


just a little time in gravity falls

by universetrash



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gravity Falls Fusion, GF / SU Crossover, Gravity Falls References, Gravity Falls Spoilers, Inspired By Gravity Falls, Inspired by Steven Universe, Older Dipper Pines, Older Mabel Pines, PTSD Dipper Pines, Post-Steven Universe Future, Returning to Gravity Falls, SU / GF Crossover, Steven Universe Future, Steven Universe Future Spoilers, Steven Universe References, Teenage Dipper Pines, Teenage Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines, Teenage Mabel Pines, Trans Dipper Pines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-02-23 07:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 42,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23874574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universetrash/pseuds/universetrash
Summary: Steven Universe stops along his cross-country road trip to stay briefly in a town called Gravity Falls. Though he doesn't initially intend to stay long, he gets a job offer from the local tourist trap known as the Mystery Shack. He expects it to be a quiet few months or so before he heads back on the road, but he couldn't be more wrong.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Comments: 750
Kudos: 2466





	1. Star Child Lands in Gravity Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven Universe finds himself in Gravity Falls after a few weeks on the road.

Steven Universe laid out a map in front of him at the table of a greasy diner. His girlfriend sat across from him, poring over the map in order to help him find his next destination.

“You could stay and travel more in California,” Connie stated. “We’re further north now, but you could travel south and head toward New Mexico from there.”

“I don’t know,” Steven said. “I mean, it’s been great hanging out with you while you’ve been looking at Jayhawk. Why don’t I just—”

“Steven,” Connie looked at him with a small smile. “I’m going back home in a few days. You can’t just follow me around. This whole trip is supposed to be about you leaving home and your family and… and me. Just for a little bit.”

He sighed. “I know. But I don’t think I should move south. I mean, I think I’ve had my fair share of beaches and sand for a few years.”

Connie laughed. “Fair enough. Although, I think there’s more to the southwest than just sand and beaches.”

He smiled. “Maybe, but I want to see what else is out there. What about going north?”

Connie nodded. “Perhaps. You could travel through Oregon and Washington into Montana, where you can explore the wide pastures.”

“There’s not a lot in Montana, is there?”

“Not particularly,” Connie chuckled. “Well, you could stay in Washington and visit the Space Needle.”

“That seems appropriate,” Steven agreed. “However, I think I’ve had enough space to last me for a bit.”

“You’re making this pretty difficult,” Connie smirked, tracing her finger along the map. “Fine, then what about Oregon? There’s a town there that Ronaldo’s always going on about because it’s a hotspot for weirdness.”

“You know, it might be nice to see some weirdness that’s not entirely gem related,” he said. “What town was it again?”

“I don’t remember, but you can probably find it on his blog,” she pointed out.

“I think I’ll just text him,” Steven shuddered. “All his blog is now is just a bunch of conspiracies about the diamonds and me and it’s a lot to read.”

“I understand,” Connie rose from the table. “Well, wherever it is, just make sure to text me when you get there and when you leave. We’ll decide where to meet up for next week, okay?”

“Of course,” Steven packed up his map and put it in his jacket pocket. He went up to the counter to pay his bill and walked Connie out to his pink lion, creatively named Lion.

Connie stopped to hug Steven. “I’ll call you once I get some free time tomorrow.”

Steven hugged her back. “I’ll text you once I know where I’m going.”

Connie then gave Steven a kiss before mounting Lion. “Drive safe!”

“I will,” he smiled, blushing. Though they had been dating for almost a year, Steven always felt the blood rush to his cheeks when Connie kissed him.

As he got into his Dondai, he watched as Connie and Lion started off toward Jayhawk University. He felt his heart sink. Every time Connie left, he couldn't help feeling a bit empty inside. Though he knew now that he didn’t need a relationship to know who he was or to feel complete, there was still a part of him who wanted to be with her always. He told his dad about this, and he said it was normal to feel like that in a relationship. His dad felt like that with his mom, but the best part of a relationship is the ability to be independent together. As Steven watched until Lion and Connie were both out of sight, he pulled out his phone to text Ronaldo.

“Hey Ronaldo! Long time no text. I was just wondering if you knew the name of that town in Oregon that’s super weird. Let me know :)”

Almost instantly, Steven got a response.

“STEVEN!! Good to hear from you, buddy!! I see you’ve garnered interest in the occult weirdness of this nation. It’s about time that you looked for some weirdness beyond the gems. Though they were interesting for a time, there are things beyond them that are beyond our human understanding!!”

Steven groaned. Sometimes Ronaldo’s text messages were completely condescending.

“I believe the town you are referring to is Gravity Falls. There’s been a bunch of weird things that go on in that town, but ever since last summer they are ACTIVELY DENYING ALL EVIDENCE OF SAID WEIRDNESS!!!!! Of course, if you are planning to go, you must document EVERYTHING and SHOW ME!! Maybe we could exchange Fiscord information and you could video chat me, or maybe--”

Steven stopped reading. He went back to the line with the name of the town. Gravity Falls? Based on what Connie had told him about gravity, that sounded wrong, but Steven wasn’t entirely sure. He typed in the information on his phone’s GPS. Gravity Falls was about seven hours away from the diner he was at. Since it was about one in the afternoon, if he started driving now, he would be there before it got too dark.

After he texted Connie to let her know where he would be staying, Steven backed out of the parking lot and began to drive toward Gravity Falls.

As he crossed over the California border into Oregon, he began to imagine what kind of weirdness might be in store for him. If it was anything gem related, he may be able to at least contain some of the corrupted gems and bring peace back to the town. Then he might be able to go home and help the gems heal, rehabilitate them, introduce them to Little Homeschool, and then maybe he could help organize—

He shook his head. He was cycling again. Maybe this town was a bad idea. If there was really gem activity here, he should leave it to Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst. This trip was to remind him that he is half-human, and that he needs to let that half grow and prosper. Being confronted by new gem activity would not be constructive to his recovery.

He still had nightmares of what he had turned into when he let his trauma overwhelm him. _When his trauma overwhelmed him_ —he had to remember that he wasn’t responsible for what happened, not entirely. He didn’t let himself become corrupted; he was just overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him when he was younger. Everything that was still going on, even during that time a few months ago. Everything with proposing to Connie, glowing pink and growing uncontrollably, Jasper, White….

Steven took in a deep breath. It’s okay to think about it, but he shouldn’t dwell on it. He’s in a better place now. He exhaled and focused on the scenery around him as he was driving. The trees were so large here, entire forests taller than the cliff overlooking Beach City. There was something comforting about driving through all this green, surrounding him on all sides. It felt like a new beginning.

He decided that he would at least stop in Gravity Falls, just to see what it was like. If he ran into any gem related issues, he would alert the gems and after the situation was settled, he would move on. He really didn’t want to feel like a part of the Crystal Gems for at least a few months while he was on this trip. It would be nice to just embrace his human half for once. He loved being with the gems and he had learned to love his gem half—even his mother to an extent—but while he was on this road trip, he simply wanted to enjoy being human.

For most of his life, he had felt pressured to become more like his mother. His mother, a diamond with no human qualities other than perhaps the ability to change. He had never been expected just to be a human. Ever since he was young, the gems were always looking to him, waiting for him to gain perfect control of his powers. Once he did, they were always on missions together. Looking back, it was difficult to remember a time where he was actually able to act his age and to be a human child. Just for right now, he would like to focus just on being a human teenager. It was easy enough to do on this road trip, especially when he stopped in at gas stations for snacks. Grabbing chips, donuts, and greasy slices of cheese pizza reminded him of his diet as a kid. Though he did try to eat as healthy as he could, it was nice every once in a while to feast on as much junk food as he could stomach.

As the sky turned into an array of reds, pinks, and oranges, and finally faded into a dark blue verging on black, Steven crossed into the town of Gravity Falls. From the outside, Steven noted how small the town seemed. It didn’t seem much larger than Beach City, and was not half as large as most of the towns he had stopped in. He tried to avoid familiarity; his therapist had mentioned to him that it might be best to get him out of his comfort zone so that he can explore new things. Though change was new and even a bit uncomfortable, it was better to confront it head on than to be thrown off guard by sudden changes that will inevitably happen. Thinking about the events that had happened a few months ago, Steven had to agree.

As he started to drive through the sleepy town, however, Steven couldn’t help but feel drawn to it. He couldn’t explain it. Though a part of him knew better than to stay too long here, another part of him couldn’t help but want to settle down. As he drove down the main street of town, he yawned.

“Well, it couldn’t hurt to spend the night,” Steven shrugged. “Besides, it would be nice to sleep at a motel.”

Though Steven had spent most nights recently sleeping in small motel rooms, he couldn’t help being charmed by them. His feelings toward motels hadn’t changed since Keystone. He couldn’t explain it. There was just something about being somewhere only temporarily, in a room where you weren’t entirely alone. There was always someone a few rooms down if not right next door. Besides, there was always free ice! … And usually a working swimming pool.

Either way, it beat out the nights where he would sleep in his car. There were some nights where he was either too tired to find a motel or he simply wanted to stargaze on the top of the Dondai. Whenever he wound up sleeping in his car, he always woke up with a sore back and a painful cramp or two in his neck. Clearly, the motel was the superior option.

He quickly found an old rundown motel near the further end of town. He sent a quick text to Connie to let her know that he had made it safely into town and hopped out of the car. Steven walked into the lobby of the motel and introduced himself.

“Hello!” he smiled cheerfully. “My name is Steven Universe. I would like to rent a room for three nights, please.”

The receptionist at the front desk—a plain looking woman with light brown hair—looked at him blankly.

He began to see what the confusion could be for. Usually when he went to motels, a lot of people didn’t expect him to be able to afford a room because of his age.

“No, it’s okay,” he tried to explain. “I can pay.”

He pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill from his wallet. Before he left, his dad prepared him with several thousand dollars for the trip. Steven insisted he would be able to get by without so much money, but his dad was adamant about him being prepared for anything.

The receptionist’s eyes widened. “Uh, the stay for three nights will be one-hundred-and-twenty.”

“Here you go,” Steven handed her the money and got a room key in return.

“Room 106, right down here,” the receptionist pointed to her left. “We do not guarantee the beds will be pest free.”

“Um, okay,” Steven smiled. “Thanks!”

He walked down to his room, happy to have a place to stay put for a few days. As much as he was liking being on his own for a change, he also liked being able to take a small break from driving. As he got settled into his room, he immediately checked for bedbugs. Thankfully, there were none. Sighing, he fell backwards onto his bed. He reminisced about the first time he spent the night in a motel. He smiled, thinking about how much of a disaster it was while at the same time being one of his favorite memories. On one hand, it pained him to see Garnet split up, but on the other hand it helped him understand Ruby and Sapphire better. Besides, he loved to spend time with them individually.

He checked his phone to see a message from Connie. It read:

“It’s so good to hear that you’re safe! What do you think you’re going to do for the next couple of days?”

Steven thought for a moment before sending his response.

“Probably go hiking through the forest. There’s a lot of giant trees around here! It’s different than what I’ve seen anywhere else. Other than that, I don’t know.”

“Hiking through the forests of Oregon sounds like it will do wonders for your mental health! It should be very relaxing. The forests of the northwest are really unique. What about some of the brochures at the motel? There must be some fun stuff on those.”

Steven smiled. “I haven’t checked yet, but I’m sure there’s something. I should probably let the gems know that I’m here.”

“Yeah, definitely! They’ll probably be glad to hear from you! Well, I gotta go and spend some time outlining the itinerary for tomorrow. We’re supposed to be getting together to do some fun bonding activities around campus. I’ll call tomorrow!”

“Sounds good,” Steven typed. “I miss you already.”

As he sent the message, he realized something was missing. As quickly as he could, Steven sent another message.

“I love you!”

After a moment, Connie shot back another message.

“I miss you too, Steven. I love you more <3”

Steven smiled and blushed. Even after all this time, seeing Connie say those three words made him feel like he could do anything.

He navigated off of Connie’s text messages to the group chat that he and the gems had created. He began to send a text message to them but deleted it after reading it to himself. He started off with “Hey guys, just got to Oregon! I’m in this really weird town that Ronaldo told me about, and I’m really looking forward to exploring it tomorrow!” Then he typed “Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I’m currently in Oregon! I’m exploring this place Ronaldo told me about that’s supposed to be really unusual!” After that, he tried “Hey guys! I really miss you a lot. I’m in Oregon right now checking for weird gem activity in this town Ronaldo told me about,” but he realized that that text was probably the worst out of all of them.

Sighing, Steven stared at his phone screen. His text bar was entirely blank, the words lost within his mind. He didn’t know how any of this would sound sincere to the gems. He missed them so much, but it was so difficult to just text them. Steven checked the time. It was currently 8:46 PM, which would be nearly midnight in Beach City. Though gems didn’t need sleep, Steven still felt bad about disturbing them this late.

Nevertheless, he chose to video call Amethyst. Within the first two rings, she picked up.

“STEVEN!!! What are you doing up so late?”

Steven smiled, glad to see Amethyst’s face. “It’s only nine here. Besides, you don’t need sleep. I didn’t think you would mind.”

“Yeah, but sleeping is nice,” Amethyst smiled. “It’s also nice to see my favorite Steven after so long.”

“Is that Steven?” a voice called from offscreen. A white hand shot out in front of the phone. Suddenly, the screen was entirely Pearl’s face.

“Pearl, it’s my phone!” Amethyst called, trying to get the phone back from her. “We can call Steven together!”

“Hiiii Steven!” Pearl beamed. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen your face! Are you eating well? Are you keeping up with your therapist? Are you sleeping?”

"Uh," Steven laughed nervously, unsure of what to respond to first.

“You’re overwhelming him,” spoke a voice just out of view. “Give it to me.”

“Garnet!” Pearl cried as Garnet took the phone from her.

“Hello Steven,” she grinned. “How’s Oregon?”

Steven laughed. Of course she knew. “It’s fine, I only just got settled in.”

Garnet extended the phone so Steven could see all of the gems. His family. “It’s good to hear from you again.”

“Is that Steven?” called another voice from offscreen. “Schtu-ball, is that you?”

“Hey, Dad!” Steven responded joyfully.

“It is you! How’ve you been?” Greg Universe popped into the frame.

“I’m good!” Steven said, content to see his family together in front of him. “A little exhausted from travelling seven hours today. I’m in this weird town Ronaldo told me about called Gravity Falls. It’s supposed to be full of these weird creatures that are different from gems, but I don’t know how true that is.”

“Well, if there is gem activity there, promise you’ll let us know right away,” Pearl said.

“Yeah dude, we got your back!” Amethyst added. “We’re not going to let anything hurt you again. You can leave all the messed up stuff to us.”

Garnet nodded.

“No, it should be okay,” Steven told them, shaking his head. “I’m going hiking tomorrow, so that should be relaxing. Besides, remember how Ronaldo used to write stuff about how weird we were all the time? I think it’s probably just a misunderstanding.”

“Even if it is,” Garnet started. “Make sure to tell us all about your adventures anyway. We love hearing all about them.”

“Of course,” Steven said. “How’s Little Homeschool?”

As the gems told Steven all about what was happening without him, he started to feel a bit like he belonged there rather than going on this road trip looking for a place to settle down. He slowly took a deep breath in and then exhaled. He knew that he wasn’t being left out, that they were on different paths right now, but they would always be there for him. In a way, it was nice to be on his own, even if he missed them terribly.

“…and Peridot _still_ hasn’t taken off that shirt you gave her, and honestly, it’s starting to reek. Like, a lot,” Amethyst continued. “The students keep complaining about it to the point where I’ve had to try and talk to her about it, but she gets really emotional whenever someone mentions you. She’s like, too attached, which I don’t understand at all.” Amethyst, unbeknownst to Steven, was currently sitting next to the game console he gave her three weeks ago. She had been carrying it around the temple all that time. Pearl, knowing this, playfully nudged her. Garnet grinned and shook her head.

“Maybe you could give her one of my other shirts?” Steven suggested. “I don’t need them anymore after all.”

“Uh, yeah, but then she would have a whole collection of smelly Steven shirts,” Amethyst pointed out. “The reason she’s against washing it is because she’s afraid that if she does, then your ‘Steven scent’ will go away.”

Steven laughed. He’d have to call Peridot later and explain that the ‘Steven scent’ was already replaced by a slightly worse scent by now. Then maybe he would direct her to the detergent that he uses and hope that problem fixes itself.

“We’re glad you’re safe and doing well, Steven,” Greg piped up. “We all really miss you.” The gems nodded.

“I miss you guys too!” Steven replied. “I’ve already figured out some places I might want to settle down in, but I still can’t wait to see you guys again.”

“We’ll always be here for you,” Greg said.

“Whenever you need us,” Garnet added.

“Wherever you are,” Pearl smiled gently.

“We’ll be right by your side no matter what,” Amethyst said, holding the game console tighter.

Steven felt his eyes well up. He knew this would be better than texting. “I’ve had a pretty long day, so I’m going to sleep now,” he told them. “I’ll let you know what happens tomorrow!”

“We’ll be waiting to hear all about it,” Garnet beamed.

“Stay safe,” Pearl said. “We all can’t wait to see you again!”

“Later, man!” Amethyst chimed in. “Don’t get attacked by a bear or something,” she joked, earning a reproving look from Pearl.

“See you later, Schtu-ball,” Greg said. “I love you!”

“We love you!” chirruped the gems in unison.

Steven felt longing well up in his chest. Just to be with the gems again, his dad, everyone he had known all his life, would be enough for him at that moment. As much as he was glad he took this chance, took this trip to expand his horizons, it was so difficult looking at their faces and deny the yearning to go back.

Steven swallowed these feelings and replaced them with the infinite love he had for each of them. Love that would never end, even though the distance that separated them seemed vast and uncrossable.

“I love you guys too,” he replied back, tears welling in his eyes. He meant it every time he said it to any one of them, but right now he may have meant it the most.

Once the call was over, Steven nestled into the motel bed. He turned off the lamp next to him and laid on his back. Darkness engulfed the room to the point that it was difficult to make anything out. There was no crash of the ocean waves next to him, rather it was completely silent. It was so different from his old bedroom and even from other motels he had stayed at. Usually the sounds of traffic bustling through the streets was enough to help him fall asleep. However, Gravity Falls could not provide that. Though he knew that he had to learn to embrace change, he found this change somewhat difficult to adjust to.

In order to help him doze off, Steven fumbled in the dark for the dusty remote control on the bedside table next to him. He thumbed over the remote in order to determine which button was the right button to turn on the TV, and eventually managed to find it.

Immediately as he turned it on, the sound fit around him like a snug blanket. The soft light and the noise from the commercials and public access television shows lulled him to sleep. Right before he drifted off into his subconsciousness, however, he heard a scraggly voice bordering on nearly obnoxious.

“Hi, I’m Mr. Mystery! Do you like to be befuddled? Bewell-bewells—welldred, bewelldred?” The audio skipped. “Bewildered? Then behold!” The old man on the TV threw down a smoke bomb and the commercial focused for a minute on his… questionable features. Steven was entranced. Perhaps this was part of the weirdness of this town?

Throughout the ad, Steven couldn’t help but feel that this place was calling out to him. Not only did it seem like non-gem related weirdness, but it just seemed like a place that would be useful for some mindless fun.

The commercial ended with a list of disclaimers and a very creepy close up of the old man laughing into the camera. The commercial froze on this frame and in a voice over, a younger man announced, “The Mystery Shack! Now under new management!”

Steven was even more intrigued. New management? Maybe this place really was worth checking out!

He yawned and turned over on his side to sleep. Yeah, maybe after his hike tomorrow, he would go check out Mister Mystery and his Mystery Shack. If there was any weirdness in this town, that would probably be the best place to check.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! hope you enjoyed this chapter. i'll try and upload every monday to get a good flow going. please let me know if you have any constructive criticism or anything you liked about the fanfic! i'd love to know what i can do to improve <3 this was largely inspired by a variety of tumblr users helping to construct this crossover AU, namely art created by @anna-scribbles, headcannons written by @aanau, and of course the brilliant fanfiction written by @ray-the-fae. little personal note: AAAAAA I LOVE THIS AU SO MUCH!!!! i haven't written fanfiction in nearly six years but i just had to input my own thoughts about this, at least for my own sake. i just find this AU so interesting and so full of potential. i hope you guys have as much fun reading this as i did creating it <3


	2. The Return of the Pines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Mabel Pines return to Gravity Falls to spend the summer with their two Great-Uncles, Stanford and Stanley Pines. Things seem to be looking up for the twins until Ford identifies a mysterious stranger.

Mabel Pines looked out the window of the bus excitedly. They had just reached the border of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Mabel was searching to get a first glimpse of any of her friends walking around. Waddles, her pet pig, looked up from her lap. His little nose made the cutest fog on the glass as he looked out.

Mabel’s twin brother, Dipper, also leaned over to look outside. “I can’t believe we’re back.”

“I know!” Mabel cheered. “Isn’t it so exciting? Now we can actually have a fun summer away from home without worrying about some stupid journals or Bill or whatever else!”

“Well,” Dipper said, producing a hardcover journal from his backpack. “Maybe we’ll only have to worry about one of those things.”

Mabel looked at her brother and groaned. “Dipper, are you really going to try and write your own journal when you can spend the summer doing fun teenage things with me and the girls?”

Dipper thought about Candy and Grenda and what sort of “fun teenage things” Mabel would have in store for them. He shuddered. “Yeah, I think I’ll just stick to the journal. Besides, someone’s gotta document the weirdness of this town! Ever since Bill destroyed Ford’s work, I’ve wanted to conduct my own research and fill in the gaps left behind. Who knows, maybe I’ll even discover something Ford didn’t!”

“Whatever, dork,” Mabel grinned. “I just can’t wait to see Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford again. I bet they’re going to have loads of crazy stories about being away at sea for months.”

“Yeah,” Dipper agreed, putting away his journal. “I have so many questions! I bet they found a whole bunch of cool anomalies!”

“Yeah! Like a giant squid with laser eyes! Or maybe a dolcat!”

“What’s a dolcat?”

“A dolphin with a cat face.”

Dipper frowned. “I bet they found something cooler than that. Probably something like Cthulhu, or the Kraken!”

Mabel rolled her eyes. “I think a dolcat is a lot cooler than any of that stuff.”

“Agree to disagree,” Dipper shrugged. “We can ask them all about it when we get to the Shack.”

“I see them!” Mabel gasped. “Stan’s even wearing the sweater I made for him!”

Mabel spotted a wrinkled old man with a terrifying face wearing a sweater that said “GOODBYE STAN” on it. Mabel couldn’t wait to show him the new sweater she made for him that said, “HELLO STAN.” It was bright pink with even more hearts on it than the goodbye sweater. This new one even had a little Waddles on the back of it. She beamed thinking of how fashionable Grunkle Stan would look with this baby on him.

She hadn’t forgotten about Grunkle Ford. While she didn’t make him a sweater last year, she knitted him up something amazing for their reunion. Where Stan’s new sweater had dark blue writing over a bright pink sweater, Grunkle Ford had bright pink writing over a dark blue sweater. “HI FORD” was written next to about a dozen hearts with a mini Gompers on the back where Waddles was on Grunkle Stan’s sweater.

“That way, they can complement each other’s styles while wearing them!” Mabel explained to Dipper when he had asked why she was making them. She hadn’t really answered her question, but he accepted it anyway.

At the mention of their names, Dipper instantly leaned in closer to the window in an effort to see better. He could see Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford standing side by side. Both of them looked unshaven and exhausted. Dipper assumed that they had probably just gotten into town not too long ago. Nevertheless, they were both smiling widely and waving as they saw the bus pull up to the stop. Soos was there as well, donning the hat Stan gave him as a parting gift and a sharp tuxedo. Melody was standing right there with him, holding his hand. Wendy, Candy, and Grenda were talking amongst themselves until Wendy caught sight of the bus. Pointing it out to the others, they began to call out and wave. Dipper was elated to see Wendy still wearing his pine tree hat. He was worried that perhaps she would have forgotten and he would show up wearing her hat for no reason.

Dipper noted how different it was last summer when they were dropped off here for the first time. Only Grunkle Stan had shown up and he hadn’t seemed too thrilled about it. Then again, neither was Dipper. Dipper remembered the reluctance he had leaving the bus, thinking that it was shaping up to be the most boring summer of his life. Clearly, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

As the bus stopped, Dipper and Mabel rushed to the doors. Considering all of the luggage they had—and the fact that Waddles was following steadily behind them—this was a bit of a challenge. As soon as the doors opened, however, the twins were ready to leap out of the bus.

“Welcome back, kids!” Stan greeted them with open arms.

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel ran into his hug, nearly knocking him over with all of her belongings. He kept his balance and embraced his favorite great-niece.

“How was the Arctic?” Dipper asked as he ran up to hug Stan. “What kind of anomalies did you guys see?”

“More than you would believe if I just told you,” Grunkle Ford stated, beaming at Dipper. “However, I did document everything in this new journal I got!” He produced a red hardcover journal from his trench coat. “I think the golden hand is a bit on-the-nose, so I’m keeping it like this for right now. You can read everything that’s in it once we get you guys settled in.”

“I punched a giant squid thing in the face!” Stan exclaimed as he squeezed the twins.

“You’re wearing the hat I gave you!” Wendy chimed in behind Stan. “Thanks for keeping it safe, Dipper.” She playfully pushed down on his head.

“MABEL!!!!” screamed Grenda as she crashed into her best friend. The impact made Grunkle Stan lose his balance and he fell to the ground. Grenda took this opportunity to pull Mabel into a bone-crushing hug. “I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!”

“I missed you too!” Candy cried out, embracing Mabel and Grenda.

“Girls!!” Mabel grinned as she hugged her best friends closer to her. “We have to catch up!! You need to tell me everything!!”

Dipper got up from the ground after Grenda knocked Stan over, effectively also knocking him over. “What do you mean ‘catch up?’ You’ve called both of them literally every single night since we’ve left.”

“Dipper, you don’t understand,” Mabel said, still enfolded in Grenda and Candy’s arms. “Girls don’t spill _everything_ over the phone. Some things are better to talk about in person, am I right ladies?”

At this, Grenda and Candy giggled. Dipper groaned. If he were never able to understand women, that would probably be all right with him.

“It’s good to see you again, dudes!” Soos came up behind Dipper and pulled him into another bear hug. Dipper could feel his ribs bruising from all of the attention he’s been receiving in the past two minutes since he’s gotten off the bus, but he didn’t really mind. It was good to see everyone again.

“Get in this, hambone!” Soos opened up his arms for her. She ducked out of Grenda and Candy’s hug and went over to embrace Soos with Dipper.

Mabel looked up at the new Mister Mystery. “Soos! The suit looks great on you!”

“Kind of miss the classic question mark tee, though,” Dipper remarked.

“I like it!” Mabel said. “It’s like you’re no longer Mystery Boy, now you’re Mystery _Man!”_

Melody stifled a laugh behind Soos as he held the twins tighter. “Aw, thanks Mabel!”

“All right, all right,” Stan said, picking up some of the twins’ belongings. Waddles snuffled up behind him and nuzzled the back of his leg. Stan tensed up and nearly buckled over. Once he realized it was only Waddles, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, I missed you too, swine.” He looked at Mabel. “You sure I can’t cook him into some delicious bacon this summer?”

“Could you really cook something that adorable?” Mabel asked, voice slightly muffled by Soos’ hug. “Besides, he’s the reason why we have you back in the first place!”

“Whatever,” Stan grumbled, hiding his true affection for the animal. “Anyway, let’s get moving and head on towards the Shack. I haven’t seen the damage Soos has done to the place yet and the suspense is killing me.”

“I had a similar reaction once you pulled me out of the portal,” Ford joked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Stan replied, not able to suppress a grin. “You helping me out or what, Poindexter?”

“It’s okay, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper said, releasing himself from Soos’ grasp. “I can go ahead and carry my things.”

“Yeah,” Mabel piped up. “We don’t mind! We had to carry them off the bus, how difficult could it be carrying it to the Shack?”

“Well, I’m not one to refuse child labor!” Stan smirked, dropping what he was carrying.

“Nah, you dudes are my guests,” Soos said as he started to lift up what Stan had dropped. “I’ll help you carry your things.”

“Thanks, Soos,” Dipper said, lifting his belongings. “Just that should be okay.”

“You got it,” Soos replied, starting off toward the Mystery Shack.

“So, am I ever gonna get my hat back?” Wendy teased as she walked beside Dipper.

Dipper laughed nervously. Though he knew that things were never going to happen between him and Wendy—and he had accepted it—seeing her again after all this time made him feel sweaty and awkward all over again. “Of course, as long as you give back _my_ hat.”

“I don’t know,” she smiled coyly. “I think I’ve grown into it. It’s not exactly my usual style, but I still think it suits me. But, I mean, if we’re switching back only for the summer….”

Wendy pulled her hat gently off of his head and replaced the pine tree cap. With the woolen hat back on her head, Dipper was flooded with feelings of nostalgia. All of the times he had tried to get her to notice him hit him at once, like the time at the convenience store, or the time where he had tried to win that stupid stuffed…whatever it was, at the fair for her. The time with the shape shifter.

At that memory, Dipper had nearly dropped his bags. He hadn’t really stopped to consider what events had taken place last summer at all. He had nightmares of course. Fleeting ones where he would be wakened gently by Mabel because he was crying or screaming or both. He never told her what these terrors were about. He was sure she knew, though, as he had to wake her up for similar issues. Their parents never asked questions if they even noticed at all. He wasn’t sure if he wanted them to notice. The questions they would ask would most likely be… impossible to answer. Even explaining Ford was difficult in and of itself. Though Mabel had tried to explain it all in a silly letter, there was still so many questions they had to answer about him. Ford, who was so afraid of Bill that he hid his journals all over Gravity Falls. Who was so afraid that he built a bunker to hide from Bill….

Dipper returned to his sudden thoughts about the bunker. This was different than his night terrors. For his nightmares, he couldn’t control what he was thinking about. The thoughts just flooded in and they didn’t stop. Besides, it was usually Weirdmaggedon when he thought of the horrific events of last summer, but they had fixed that. It’s okay now. Bill was defeated and he wasn’t coming back. There was no need to dwell on it once it was over, right?

He hadn’t stopped even to consider what had occurred in Ford’s bunker out in the woods. Everything Bill had done seemed to overshadow it. But he was over that now, wasn’t he? That was so much smaller than almost being murdered multiple times by Bill and his minions. Wasn’t it? Then why does he feel so… small? Why now? What was going on with him?

“Uh, are you okay dude?” Wendy’s voice cut through Dipper’s thoughts. “You look kind of pale.”

Dipper shook his head, trying to forget thoughts of the shapeshifter. “Yeah, I’m totally cool. Totally normal and totally cool. Cool Dipper.”

Wendy looked blankly at him for a second, then shook her head and grinned. “Okay, just checking. You know if you need to talk about anything, you can always talk to me.”

“I know,” Dipper returned the warmth of her smile. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. I know last summer was pretty heavy.”

“You could say that again. But at least Bill’s contained and he’s not coming back so everything’s fine now!”

Wendy looked at Dipper. He stared back at her, concerned that he might have her worried about him.

“Yeah, Bill’s gone,” she started. “But Dipper, there was so much more to last summer than just Weirdmaggedon. I know it’s a lot. It’s okay if you’re anxious or even just—”

“Hey dudes!” Soos called out from up ahead. “What’s up with this surprise party at the front of the Mystery Shack?”

Wendy shook her head and ran to catch up with Soos. “Soos, you weren’t supposed to announce it _before_ we reached the Shack!”

“Party?” Mabel spoke up from behind Dipper. “Grunkle Stan, Grunkle Ford, did you guys have anything to do with this?”

Grunkle Ford shrugged and shook his head. “We’re just as confused as you are. We just got in town probably only a half hour before you guys had. We haven’t had much time other than dropping our stuff off quickly at the Shack. Come to think of it, Soos nearly kicked us out as soon as we arrived. We haven’t had much time in the actual Shack since we arrived.”

Intrigued, Dipper quickened his pace to keep up with Wendy. As soon as he got sight of the Mystery Shack, he noticed that most of the town was there in front of a banner that read “WELCOME BACK PINES FAMILY!” Toby Determined was wearing a small party hat but appeared to be the only one to do so. It disturbed his new goth aesthetic to the point where the little hat looked almost unnatural.

Grenda and Candy rushed past him, probably aware that they had missed some sort of cue to be a part of the crowd. Mabel hurried after them, followed by Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford. Dipper kept up right alongside Mabel, worried that if he stepped out just by himself then the “surprise” would be completely ruined.

As soon as the Pines family stepped out in front of the crowd, the town cheered “Welcome back to Gravity Falls!”

Pacifica Northwest came up to Dipper and Mabel. Though she looked relatively the same, the major difference was a wide grin on her face. She was wearing the llama sweater Mabel made her. “Welcome back, you guys!”

“Pacifica! It’s good to see you again!” Mabel said, pulling her into a hug.

“Watch the hair, please,” Pacifica sputtered, blushing. “We can only afford to get it styled once a month now rather than once a week. It’s been a difficult adjustment.”

“Sorry,” Mabel replied as she released her. “I just missed you.”

“Yeah, it’s weird to say, but I did kind of miss being bothered to help you out with your family issues,” Dipper joked.

“Oh, we’re much better now,” Pacifica said. “Trust me. I think giving up our house was the best thing that happened to us! We’re like, so humble now. Really down to Earth.”

“Uh, yeah.” Dipper didn’t buy it. Not only because he had had his hair styled the same exact way for years now, but also because Pacifica’s mom still looked like a plastic doll.

“Well, at least _I’m_ a bit better now,” she gave a small smile. “I think my parents still hold a grudge after losing all their money to Bill. Not that they totally didn’t deserve it.”

Dipper returned her comment with a smile. Maybe Pacifica had made a major change for the better. Now that he was recalling it, it wasn’t as though she was all bad. The whole thing with her family curse and whatnot wasn’t her fault, after all.

The family curse. The blood flowing freely from the animal heads. The lumberjack turning everyone in the hall to wood. Dipper remembered exactly where he was standing when _he_ was turned to wood. What was he looking at in that moment? Was it Pacifica? Was it Mabel, already turned? Or was it the lumberjack ghost, ready to end his life without hesitation?

It’s okay, isn’t it? It’s over. He fixed it. He saved the day, as always.

But he hadn’t. If Pacifica hadn’t opened the gates… if she had chosen to obey her parents, he would still be frozen there, wouldn’t he? He would have missed out on Ford, missed out on Weirdmaggedon. Would Weirdmaggedon had even happened if he hadn’t been unfrozen? In theory, if he hadn’t been there, then Mabel wouldn’t have been upset by him staying behind in Gravity Falls and she wouldn’t have had access to the rift that Bill shattered. Even more than that, wouldn’t Stan have been too devastated to focus on opening the portal anyway? Would Ford have even been able to return, resulting in the rift? Should Pacifica have even saved him?

“Dipper? Dipper, are you okay?” Mabel asked. She and Pacifica were standing over him, looking worried. Why were they standing over him?

Ah. He had fallen. That was why.

“Uh, I think I just have some bus lag,” he lied. “I’ll be okay.”

“Well, okay, dummy,” Mabel offered her hand to him. “You know, you don’t have to stay at this party with us.”

“No, no, it’s okay!” As Dipper grasped Mabel’s hand, he forced himself to match the positive energy Mabel was always exuding. “I’m fine, seriously.”

“Okay,” she smiled. “Oh hey, look who’s making their way over to us!”

Dipper squinted. He was unsure if he had ever seen this man in his life. He was short with a trimmed beard, glasses, and a long-brimmed hat. He was wearing a clean pair of brown overalls with a spotless white shirt underneath. Though the answer should have been obvious, Dipper couldn’t place a name to him until after he spoke.

“By garnit, it’s the Pines twins, I reckon!”

“Fiddleford?” Grunkle Ford spoke first, shocked by the transformation of his old friend. “You look so much better. Finally got the band-aid off of the beard, I see.”

“That’s right!” he chuckled almost maniacally. “I figured if I got the money to buy myself a bigger shed, then I got myself the money to buy some new clothes!”

“Don’t worry, McGucket,” Stan said. “You’ll always be the town hick to me.”

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel said reprovingly.

“What? It’s true.”

Dipper decided to excuse himself from this conversation by grabbing a refreshment. As he was turning to head back to his family, he bumped into someone and spilled water all over himself.

“I’m so sorry!” the person exclaimed. “Here, let me grab you a few napkins.”

“Thanks,” Dipper said as he followed this person back to the table. He grabbed more water as he waited for the stranger to return.

“My name’s Steven, by the way,” the stranger began as he handed the napkins to Dipper. “What’s yours?”

“Dipper,” he replied, questioning the appearance of this complete stranger. It wasn’t like Gravity Falls to gain new residents. In the three months he had spent here last year, he was sure he had seen more people leave than people move in. He couldn’t blame them. Although Grunkle Stan denied the paranormal going on within Gravity Falls for half of his stay last summer, it was difficult to justify. Most people would rather not bother.

“Dipper?” Steven questioned as Dipper began to pat himself dry. “Like the constellation? That’s so cool! I’m also named after something in space. My last name is Universe!”

Dipper stared at him blankly.

Steven started to sweat. Maybe he was failing at human interactions again. Though Connie had helped him out a lot ever since the roller-skating incident, he was still new at making friends. Unless those said friends were trying to kill him previously. Then friendship came almost naturally to him.

“Steven Universe?”

“Yep, that’s my name. Well, it would have been Steven DeMayo, but my dad had it changed.”

“To Universe?”

Steven felt like this was turning into a disaster. “Yes?”

After taking a second to process this, Dipper couldn’t determine whether this guy was joking with him or if his family were actually crazy. “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Dipper said casually as he walked back to his family. He couldn’t help but wonder who in their right mind would change their last name to Universe, but he didn’t have much time to ponder it before Ford quickly pulled him aside.

“Do you know him, Dipper?”

“Know who, the guy who helped me out over at the table?” Dipper asked, confused. “He said his name is Steven Universe.”

Ford looked quizzical.

“I know, but he said his dad had it changed from another last name or something,” Dipper quickly explained.

“That doesn’t matter,” Ford continued. “We need to keep an eye on him.”

“Why? He seems harmless to me.”

Ford pulled out his journal and flipped through it. “Look at this, Dipper.”

Dipper took a hold of the journal and looked back toward Steven, who was now trying to awkwardly converse with Wendy, Robbie, Tambry, Lee, Thompson, and Nate. He looked at the drawing Ford had placed in front of him and gasped. “Grunkle Ford, what--?"

“On our travels, Stan and I discovered many strange things, but nothing quite as strange as what I am about to reveal to you,” Ford started. “Though Stan and I had been searching the Arctic Ocean for anomalies, we made a few stops in the North Atlantic to chase down some other strange activity. On one particularly ordinary day, we hadn’t encountered as much as a rogue wave when suddenly the ocean turned dark pink. The water became deathly still. Where there had once been fish jumping into our boat left and right, we couldn’t even get a nibble on our fishing line anymore. All the life in the ocean seemed to have just…stopped. We decided to travel back to shore in order to find out what was going on. Whether it was a biological weapon, radioactive waste, or simply a freak accident caused by hydrothermal vents, we never learned. Instead, something… unexplainable happened.

“The water turned a lighter pink and instantly we saw the sea life return. Fish started leaping out of the water once more. We saw dolphins and whales breach again. The water then changed hue once again into the same stormy blue that we had been sailing on all of this time. That’s not the strangest thing, however. Some of the plant life… it began to take on a new shape. It began to talk and even move of its own accord. At first, we had no idea what to make of them. They nearly tipped our boat over trying to climb all over us. It took forever just to chuck them back into the water. I couldn’t explain it, even with all I had learned, a lifetime studying weirdness. Looking at him, however, I’m starting to piece it together.”

Dipper looked back up at Steven and then back down to Ford’s journal. “They look—"

“Just like him, right?” Ford finished. “That’s why we have to figure out who he is and what type of connection he has to all of this. It’s clear he has some sort of connection to these anomalies and the life vanishing from the ocean during that time, I just have no idea what that connection could be.”

“You guys talking about that weird curly-haired guy over there?” Stan came up behind Dipper.

Dipper noticed that he had just put on Mabel’s “HELLO” sweater without even bothering to take off the sweater he was wearing earlier. He was sweating more than Dipper had ever seen anyone sweat in his life, even during that awful heat wave last year.

“I was just telling Dipper,” Ford said, keeping his eyes on the stranger. “I’m not sure what our course of action should be.”

“That’s easy. We should just force him into telling us everything,” Stan stated.

“Okay, but what if he’s somehow able to control this plant army he has?” Ford argued. “What if he can summon them here? That would put everyone’s lives at risk!”

Stan crossed his arms. “Hey, I don’t think that guys any bigger of a threat than Bill. And we took care of him, didn’t we?”

“That was different. We have no idea what sort of threat he could be! We have to be careful and gather more information.”

“Information is for suckers. I say we just go up and punch him. He’ll have to tell us everything then!”

“Stanley, will you just listen to me? He looks harmless now, but we have no idea what he could be capable of!”

“Hey Mr. Pines and Mr. Pines, hey Dipper, would any of you dudes care for some cake?” Soos came up to the trio. “I got marble because it’s a nice cake mix for everyone to enjoy. If you don’t like chocolate, you can eat around it just for the vanilla. If you don’t like vanilla, you can eat around it just for the chocolate. It’s a win-win.”

Ford, Stan, and Dipper stared at each other silently before grabbing a slice of cake from Soos.

“As I was saying,” Ford said after taking a bite. “I think this needs to be a stealth mission first and foremost. We need to keep a close eye on him but maintain enough distance so we don’t attract suspicion.”

“Hey nerds, are you discussing some kind of nerd thing?” Mabel popped up, face mostly covered in icing.

Ford looked at her and couldn’t help but adore her. He wanted to partake in the carelessness of the partygoers here, embrace the celebration and just relax after a few stressful months at sea. He wanted to be here with Mabel and act like he hadn’t a care in the world. But he couldn’t. This discussion was for the safety of not only his whole family, but perhaps for the rest of the world.

He took another small bite of his cake and sighed. “We think that someone here could be one of the anomalies we had been tracking.”

“We might have to go in for a fight, so make sure you have your grappling hook, sweetie,” Stan said endearingly.

“A fight?” Mabel repeated, rubbing some of the icing off of her face. “What are you talking about? This is a party! No one should have to fight.”

“Exactly,” Dipper said. “I agree with Grunkle Ford. I think we should collect intelligence on him, see exactly what he’s up to.”

“You might need more intelligence than anything you’re going to get from this random stranger, right Grunkle Stan?” Mabel held out her hand for a high five and received one.

“Mabel, this is serious!” Dipper frowned.

“Dipper’s right,” Ford attempted to gain control of the discussion once more. “It’s important that we keep a close eye on this boy. He could be incredibly hard to find again if we lose him—I seriously doubt his real name is ‘Steven Universe,’—so its best that we make sure we don’t lose track of him.”

“Grunkle Ford?” Mabel asked, curiosity piqued by the mention of a boy. “What does he look like? Maybe me and the girls can help keep an eye on him!”

Dipper stared at her suspiciously. Mabel tried not to notice and cleared her throat. “For purely scientific reasons, of course.”

“Of course,” Ford spoke, not noticing Mabel’s ulterior motive to check out a potentially hot boy with her group of friends. “It’s only natural for you to want to help protect our family. Do you see that teenager with the…” Ford searched the crowd quickly. A young man wearing a bright pink jacket should stand out, but he wasn’t able to see him anywhere. “Hm. Well, that’s not good.”

“What?” Dipper asked. “Did he leave? Do you think he heard us talking about him?”

“I’m sure he can’t have gone far,” Ford said.

“Yeah, we’ll find him,” Stan pounded his fist against his hand. “And once we do, he’s gonna wish that we had never been born.”

“Stanley, for the last time, we’re not going to fight him. Also, the phrase is ‘he will wish _he_ had never been born.’”

“Pardon me, language police. Is making up phrases a crime?”

“It is when the phrases make no sense.”

“Uh, excuse me?”

Stan turned around to find exactly who they had been looking for. A teenager with dark brown, curly hair, brown eyes, and a pink jacket over a black shirt with a star on it was staring earnestly at him.

Instead of immediately jumping into a fight, Stan stepped back. “Sure kid, what do you want?” was all he could think of to say. Behind him, he heard Ford stifle a laugh. He covered it lazily with a small cough.

“I saw you on TV last night,” Steven started, smiling. “You’re Mr. Mystery, right?”

“Not anymore,” Stan said, hoping for backup from one of his seemingly useless family members. “Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to say I really loved your commercial,” Steven said. “It was both funny and, uh, mysterious! I know you’re closed down today, for the party and everything, but I was wondering when would be a good time for the tour? I heard this town is known for having some pretty weird stuff and I figured this would be the best place to look.”

“Weird stuff, huh?” Stan repeated, looking back briefly at Ford.

Steven noticed only then that there were two Mr. Mysteries. His pupils became stars as he exclaimed, “Whoa, there are two of you? That’s amazing! Is that another part of the weirdness here?”

Stan and Ford exchanged puzzled looks. After seeing the kid's pupils turn into stars, their suspicion that he could be an anomaly was nearly confirmed.

“Haven’t you ever seen a pair of identical twins before, kid?” Stan asked.

Steven blushed. He had gotten so caught up in the weirdness of the town that he had forgotten that it would have been more likely that, rather than clones, these two were simply twins. 

“Well, I’ve only ever met two pairs of twins before but uh,” While Steven could clearly talk about Kiki and Jenny, he didn’t know exactly how to explain the Rutile twins. “You guys look… a lot different from the other pairs of twins I know.”

“There’s more twins where that came from!” Mabel said cheerfully, pulling Dipper closer to her.

“Mabel!” Dipper said through gritted teeth.

“Whoa!!” Steven said. “That’s incredible! Two pairs of twins in one day? I guess this place really is a hotspot for rare things.”

“Well, uh, you know what kid? I think I actually have a better offer for you than just a plain old tour, based on your attraction for all things weird.”

The words came out quicker than Stan could process them. “How would you like to work here at the Mystery Shack? Full time and, what the heck, if you need a place to stay, I can even throw in a room for a small fee. How does that sound? I could put in a good word with the new owner and seeing as my brother and I here still technically own the house, renting a room won’t be a problem.”

Dipper felt his stomach drop. Having this stranger stay with them in their house for the whole summer seemed like a total nightmare.

“Grunkle Stan?” Dipper piped up. “I’m not sure if this is a good—”

“I’ll also throw in my own recommendation!” Ford interrupted. “You seem like such an intelligent boy that we would be happy to have you as part of our team and as our esteemed house guest!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Stan said, forcing a smile. “So, what do you say, kid? Want to work at the Mystery Shack or what?”

EDIT: My amazing friend @xpacestuff on tumblr made some amazing fan art of the interaction between Dipper and Steven! Please go show them some love <3 [Here's](https://xpacestuff.tumblr.com/post/617862260869808128/drew-a-scene-from-stevenhastheuniverse-s-fic-i) the original post!

(Thank you Kai I love you legend <3)

EDIT: tumblr user @rannvadraws drew this lovely fan art depicting a page in Ford's journal! Their art is incredible and I would highly recommend showing them some love! [Here's](https://rannvadraws.tumblr.com/post/617985608824029184/the-text-is-not-canon-to-the-story-unless) the original post.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaa! i've been so excited to share this chapter with you. all of your kind words and kudos have been overwhelming and i can't express how thankful i am! so, more about this chapter: yes i had to add some angst between the characters. i didn't really think that the pines family would be totally on board with having this stranger just stay with them for the summer, so i had to add an ulterior motive. i'm also definitely taking some liberties with steven's powers. the dark pink the ocean turns into is meant to be the biopoison from spinel's injector. the one thing i've been unhappy about from the movie is that there seemed to be no repercussions from her injector smashing into beach city, so i wanted to create some potential aftermath from the attack. obviously steven would have to use his healing abilities to clean up the mess spinel left behind, so i'm taking a few liberties with the potency of his healing powers that would allow little seaweed stevens to pop up. as always, i hope you guys have enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it! feel free to leave comments about what you liked/constructive criticism <3


	3. The Mystery Shack's Newest Attraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven decides to accept Stan's offer to become the newest addition to the Mystery Shack. Dipper is still frustrated with the nonchalance of his family, but decides that this could be a good opportunity to study this anomaly more closely.
> 
> ***TW: Dysphoria, please skip past the paragraph starting with "It was the same room..." until the paragraph that starts with "'Dipper!' Ford grabbed him by the shoulders." I have heavy dysphoria and understand it could be distressing to read. Please take care of yourselves!***

The day had started off normally enough. Well, as close to normal as Steven could manage. He had woken up, taken a shower, brushed his teeth, and sent Connie a good morning text.

“Good morning, honey! I hope you have a wonderful day bonding with other Jayhawks! Make sure to tell me all about it when you get back to the dorms. I love you <3”

In a few minutes, he had received a text back.

“Good morning! I’ve made some new friends and we’re planning to spend most of the bonding activities together. It should be really fun! I’m kind of sad that this is my second to last day at this summer program, but I’m also really happy that I get to go home soon. I’ve really missed my parents. I’ll call once I get a free moment after dinner tonight. I love you too, sweetheart <3”

Steven broke into a wide smile at her message. Every time she said it was like the first time. He couldn’t wait to hear her voice later tonight.

At the mention of missing her parents, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of longing for the gems and his dad. Connie was able to go back home in a few days while he was set on staying on this road trip in order to settle down somewhere else. Though he felt better than he had in months, he couldn’t help feeling slightly homesick. He had the urge to text the gems but thought better of it. If they texted back, he may not be able to deny his longing to be back at Beach City. He decided that he would just call them later tonight to talk to them when he was able to reflect on his first day in this weird town. That would probably take his mind off of missing them, at least for a bit.

He stepped out of the motel, feeling as clean as he could considering that he slept on a somewhat questionable smelling mattress the night before. He hadn’t walked far into town when he saw a flyer posted to a telephone pole. Out of curiosity, Steven decided to inspect the sign.

“SURPRISE PARTY FOR THE PINES FAMILY! ALL PARTY DUDES ARE WELCOME!”

Underneath those words, there was a photo of six people. On the left was a young man with a pear-shaped face throwing up a peace sign. In front of him were two children. Steven thought they looked incredibly similar to each other. He guessed that they were siblings. One was a boy wearing a blue and white hat with a pine tree on it and the other was a girl in an adorable shooting star sweater with… something metallic stuck in her teeth. To the right of her was an older girl with striking red hair. She had to be about Steven’s age if he had to guess. In the middle of the picture was someone Steven recognized immediately—Mr. Mystery. There was no mistaking it. However, he found it strange that the person who created the flyer decided to glue down another picture of his face right next to him. This second face looked much more serious though, and he was wearing slightly different glasses. Something else was off about him, too, but Steven couldn’t exactly put his finger on it.

Underneath the picture was the date, time, and place for the party: “May 28th, 2:00 PM, Mystery Shack.”

Steven didn’t know who the Pines family was, but the flyer said anyone could go. This could be his chance to try out some of the conversational skills Connie had worked on him with! Besides, it was taking place at the Mystery Shack later on that same day. Since he was looking to visit the Shack anyway, he couldn’t help but think he should go.

That’s why, at one forty-five in the afternoon, Steven began to make his way toward the Mystery Shack.

Now he was being offered a job within five minutes of meeting the very same man he had seen on TV the night before.

He was taken aback. “You want me to work here?”

“Yeah, sure,” Stan said. “I figure someone like you would be good to keep around the Shack.”

Steven considered it for a moment. On one hand, would having a job be really good for his mental health? He had spent so much time fixing things, fixing _others._ First it was being an ambassador for Earth, then it was being an administrator at Little Homeschool. The pressure of having so many people look to him and having to work so hard just to make sure everything was perfect had exhausted him to the point where he became overwhelmed. Besides, wasn’t he taking this road trip in order to figure out who he was as a person? Would having a job really help him accomplish this?

But…this road trip was also to remind him of what it meant to be human. And isn’t it human to get a summer job? Isn’t that a typical teenage thing to do? Steven wasn’t entirely sure, but it at least sounded correct. After all, working for a few months at this roadside attraction seemed like a lot less stress considering everything else he had gone through. It was nice to think that he wouldn’t have to lead for once. He could follow someone else’s direction, someone else’s advice. He didn’t have the opportunity to mess this up so badly that the fate of the world would be in jeopardy. He was allowed to make mistakes.

Not to mention, he would be surrounded by what he assumed to be some pretty amazing stuff. Pretty amazing, non-gem related, weird stuff that wouldn’t have the potential to kill or seriously injure him.

“Wow,” he breathed. “That would actually be pretty great. Yeah, that would be really great! Thank you, uh…?” Steven couldn’t remember if they gave him their names yet. “Mr. Mystery?”

Stan looked at Steven, almost surprised he had actually agreed. This kid must be really desperate to just accept a job offer just like that.

He grinned. If he were still the boss around here, he would eagerly look to manipulate that. “Call me Stan. Stan Pines. This is my dork of a brother Ford, my niece Mabel, and that sweaty geek there is my nephew, Dipper.”

Dipper nearly stuffed his whole fist in his mouth to keep from screaming. This was a disaster.

“Hi,” Mabel flipped her hair over her shoulder. “As he said, I’m Mabel, but you can call m—”

Dipper snapped out of his momentary horror to utter disbelief. How could Mabel be flirting with the supernatural?

Then he thought of Norman, the vampires Mabel had dated, and of course Mermando. He realized that Mabel flirting with potentially weird or magic creatures was completely believable.

Before she could say anymore however, Dipper flipped her hair back in front of her face. In the middle of her pick-up line, she got a mouth full of hair. Spitting out bits of her hair, Steven found her instantly endearing.

Steven noticed Dipper and waved. “Hello again! It’s, uh, good to see you’re keeping dry!”

Dipper squinted suspiciously at him, instantly trying to determine whether the water that had spilled on him was actually a malicious attack. After all, he was able to create sentient life from plants. Perhaps Steven bumping into him was a part of some secret plan. Could he create sentient life from the cotton in his shirt? Would his vest start sprouting mini sentient Steven plants?

While he was trying to connect the dots in his head, Ford cleared his throat. “What did you say your name was again?”

“Oh, my name is Steven Universe, and--” He had to stop himself from introducing him as savior of the galaxy. He realized if he wanted this summer job to resemble any sort of human normalcy, maybe discretion was key.

“And, well,” he fumbled. “I’m not from around here. I’ve been on a road trip for a few weeks, but to be honest it sounds really nice to settle down for a little bit.”

“Where are you from exactly?” Ford asked, trying to maintain the guise of genuine curiosity.

Dipper instantly whipped out his journal and began to write his first entry. “Steven ‘Universe’ (?), origin….” He looked up eager for any sort of answer.

“Beach City, Delmarva,” Steven answered plainly. Out of all the questions they could have asked—about his social security number, proof of residence, birth certificate—that had to be the easiest question for him to answer.

“Ah yes, Delmarva,” Ford said, visibly confused. “I definitely remember that being a thing.”

“Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia decided in the nineties that it would be better for tourism if they just combined, Grunkle Ford,” Mabel explained.

“Hm. I’m kind of glad I missed it, then. Was everything just worse in the nineties?”

As Ford continued processing the formation of Delmarva, Dipper wrote in Steven’s answer dejectedly. He was expecting something far cooler like space or perhaps an underwater society. Maybe Steven was just lying to protect his identity. No matter, Dipper was sure that he would be able to get to the bottom of this mystery by the end of the summer.

Stan wasn’t sure if he bought the kid’s story either. He could tell a scammer when he saw one and Steven’s background wasn’t adding up. “Well, kid, let us introduce you to the real Mr. Mystery.”

He cleared his throat and yelled, “SOOS! GET OVER HERE!”

It was almost like Soos had been waiting for his cue. He appeared instantly in front of Stan, ready for his instructions. “Yes, Mr. Pines?”

Steven instantly noticed his outfit and got starstruck once again. It was the guy who had been throwing up the peace sign in the photo, but now instead of a green question mark t-shirt, he was wearing a clean tuxedo with the same hat Stan had been wearing in the commercial.

He gasped. “You’re the new management from the commercials!”

Soos looked at Steven, surprised that anyone would be so excited to meet him of all people. It made him feel kind of important. “Uh, yeah! You can call me Soos, on account that Soos is my name. What’s yours, dude?”

“I’m Steven Universe.”

Dipper looked at Soos behind Steven’s back and shook his head, trying to imply that it couldn’t be his real name and that he was obviously hiding something. Soos saw Dipper and cocked his head. Dipper sighed and mouthed, “That’s not his name, that’s not his name!” Soos pursed his lips together and nodded.

He looked back at Steven seriously. “So, Universe… is that like, a stage name or something?”

“Kind of!” Steven replied cheerfully as Dipper slapped his forehead. “My dad first came up with it while he was going on tour.”

Soos nodded sagely. “That is way cool.”

“Soos,” Stan interrupted. “This is your newest employee. Give him a Mystery Shack t-shirt or something and have Wendy train him.”

“Wait, what?” at the mention of her name, Wendy walked up. “Mr. Pines, you seriously can’t be giving me more work to do when you’ve only just showed up here like, ten minutes ago.”

“I’m not,” he replied. “Soos is.”

“I am?” Soos asked, still lost by this quick turn of events. “Wait, Mr. Pines, don’t I have to give Steven like, a job interview or anything?”

Stan shook his head. Had he taught Soos nothing? “Of course not! You didn’t have an interview or any pesky paperwork to fill out when you were hired, why should he go through that?”

“Oh, heh, right!”

“Besides,” Ford stepped in. “He’s got both my recommendation and Stan’s to work here. He’s got a good head on his shoulders and should be useful to have around the Shack.”

“And Dipper and I want him to work here too!” Mabel chimed in.

Dipper tensed up and looked over at Mabel. Why is everyone acting like it would be great to have this weird… person? Weird… whatever this guy is, come in to work and live with them? He just wanted to have a normal summer--whatever the definition of ‘normal’ was in Gravity Falls, at least. He wasn’t sure he could handle any dangerous, potentially life-threatening anomalies trying to invade his life.

“I promise, I won’t let you down!” Steven said to Soos. “I’ve never actually had a real job before, aside from maybe a day at a donut shop, but I’ll work hard to make sure I meet your expectations.”

Hearing himself, Steven worried that maybe this was a step backwards. It reminded him of how he used to want to meet the gems’ expectations when he was younger, always eager to learn his powers and how he could be useful to the team. For his entire life it seemed that all he wanted was to be of use to people. He was only just learning now that it was all right just to be himself for the sake of being himself. However, though he acknowledged that trying to be useful to his new employer was not the best direction for handling his mental health, he realized it was probably a bit too late to back out now. He would just have to monitor how he handled this new job.

“No sweat, dude,” Soos reassured him. “I’d be happy to have you work here! Besides, anyone’s who’s ever worked with donuts before is someone I instantly trust.”

“Soos,” Wendy spoke up. “Do you really want me to train him? I mean, I didn’t have any proper training, and I turned out fine.”

“Come on, Wendy. This is his first job. Also, you’ve been working longer here than Melody, and Dipper and Mabel need time to settle in.”

She shrugged. “That’s fair.”

Steven turned to Stan and asked, “Would it really be all right to let me stay here for a little bit? To be honest, I’m staying a motel right now as I’m going on this cross-country road trip. It would be nice to have somewhere stable to stay while I work here.”

“Uh, sure,” Stan responded. “Just know that I’ll have to charge you rent.”

“No problem,” Steven pulled out his wallet. “How much will it be?”

Stan was taken aback by how willing Steven was to pay right up front, with no questions asked even! Well, one question asked, but it was exactly the kind of question Stan wanted to hear. He would be a fool not to take this kid up on his naiveté.

As his mind was searching for the best way to extort this oddball stranger, Ford cleared his throat and answered. He was worried that Stan’s greed may drive this young man away. “It will be $150 every two weeks, groceries included.”

Stan stared at his brother, shocked that he would stoop so low to screw him out of a scam. Ford returned the look, shaking his head slightly. Forcing a smile, Stan asked through gritted teeth, “Hey Poindexter, do you think we could discuss this _privately?”_

Steven didn’t seem to notice the tension between the two brothers as he pulled out a month’s rent from his wallet. _In cash,_ Stan noticed. “Here you go!”

As Steven pulled three $100 bills from his wallet easily, Dipper became even more suspicious. Who _was_ this stranger? Could he also make sentient plant monsters from the cotton within the dollar bills? Is that why he was so rich? Dipper bit on the end of his pen to stop himself from asking questions that may lead Steven to believe that they were onto him.

Ford took the money, ignoring Stan’s plea to talk about the rent. “Follow me then, I’ll lead you to your room.”

As Dipper started to follow Ford, he added, “I’ll be back shortly, just go ahead and enjoy the party.”

“But, Grunkle Ford,” Dipper started. “I, uh, also wanted to show Steven around! You know, since he’s new and everything.”

“That’s very kind of you, Dipper, but I’m sure Steven would like some privacy.”

“Oh, I don’t mind!” Steven asserted. “It would be nice to have someone help show me around.”

Ford put on a fake smile. “Well. Then I guess it’s decided! Come along now.”

Dipper walked alongside Steven, looking at him as he tried to connect some of the dots he had. Steven didn’t notice. As they walked into the gift shop, he was amazed by all the cool knick knacks and toys. He had never seen anything like this before. In the center of the room stood a clay sculpture of Stan with the word “FOUNDER” written underneath it. Somehow, Steven noticed it only emphasized his strange features. He stared at the sculpture with a mixture of awe and confusion.

Dipper was not faced by the same mixture of feelings Steven had. Instead, he was just horrified. He didn’t even want to think of how—or _why_ —Soos managed to get the body hair on the Stan sculpture so realistic. “I can’t believe Soos put that in the middle of the shop.”

Ford sighed. “Well, I’m sure it’s at least good for business.”

“I think it’s… nice?” Steven tried to speak up for Soos.

Dipper looked at him, unsure if he was trying to make a joke or if he was actually serious. “You’re joking, right?”

“Uh,” Steven wasn’t really sure if he was supposed to be joking or not. “No?”

As Dipper stared at Steven, Ford just shook his head. “Let’s keep going.”

Ford led Steven and Dipper into the living room. It looked untouched since the last time he had been there. Though Ford and Stan both told Soos he was welcome to stay with his Abuelita, they didn’t stay long. Soon after Melody moved to Gravity Falls to help out with the Shack, Soos and Melody decided to rent a house of their own in town. Soos said that this was so that the Pines would still be able to visit and have a place to stay in the summer. Though Stan acted that he didn’t care that Soos had decided to move in with Melody, Ford could tell that he was secretly proud.

“Through here,” Ford called as Steven looked in wonder around the Shack. This was so much different than what he was used to with the gems. The house was more compact and darker than what he was used to. The wide windows and light interior of his room in the temple was far behind him now.

Steven’s eyes lit up. This was perfect.

“All right,” Ford said as he walked Steven up to the door of his room. “Here we are.”

As he opened the door, Dipper’s jaw dropped. This bedroom… isn’t this…?

It was the same room he and Mabel had fought over last summer. It had a huge couch underneath a stunning stained-glass window, a lamp on the table beside it, and a desk with a calendar above it near the lamp. The blue and yellow carpeting had long since been removed. Dipper shuddered thinking about what had happened last summer with the electron carpet. He still had nightmares sometimes about waking up in Mabel’s body. They weren’t as awful as the Weirdmaggedon night terrors, but it still triggered a healthy amount of body dysphoria for him.

Mabel realized afterwards that seeing himself as her had hurt him. Dipper remembered that she stayed up all night with him once he moved back into the attic, telling him how far he had come in his transition, that just one step backwards wasn’t anything compared to how much he’s grown. He knew that she was right, that he had come so far, but it was just something that came to haunt him every now and then.

His stomach dropped. Why was seeing this room reminding him of that memory? And why was it so much more difficult to deal with now? Images flashed before his eyes. His hair growing uncontrollably and suffocating him. Him living his life without ever transitioning, feeling consistently miserable for a reason he would never be able to describe. How he would look right now had he never been able to transition. How he would sound. He thought of his voice cracking last summer and winced. He could feel his heartbeat quicken. He shouldn’t have come here with Ford and Steven. He should have stayed at the party, talked to Mabel about some of his ideas regarding Steven’s true identity. He should have just—

“Dipper!” Ford grabbed him by the shoulders. “Dipper, are you all right?”

“What?” he was suddenly dragged back to his senses. He had been staring at the ground for minutes without saying anything, without moving. Steven was looking at him… with concern on his face? Why would he care?

“Did I do something?” Steven asked, worried. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No, no,” Dipper replied. “I’m fine, sorry. It’s fine. I’m just a bit tired from the bus ride, that’s all.”

Ford stared at him for a moment before sighing. “As long as you’re all right. You scared me, Dipper.”

Steven stood there silently, concern on his face. He recognized what Dipper was doing. He used to do the same thing before he had become corrupted. The lying came easy at first, but then that was all you were doing. Little lies, insisting that you were fine when in reality you were falling apart. Even to yourself, you would lie to pretend that things were great and everything was okay when it wasn’t. He knew it wasn’t his place, but maybe Dipper would appreciate if Steven talked to him later.

Then Steven thought better of it. He barely knew Dipper, and he didn’t want to get caught up in the whirlwind that was fixing others at the cost of his own mental health. Besides, he didn’t know if he was just projecting his own issues onto Dipper. He said himself he was fine, and there was nothing to suggest that he had been through anything traumatic. Steven was just overthinking it.

“Well, what do you think, son?” Ford asked Steven. “You have a nice couch to sleep on, a lamp, a desk, everything a growing young man should need, right?”

“I love it!” Steven beamed. “This room is amazing. Thank you so much for letting me stay here, Mr. Pines!”

“Of course,” Ford said, declining to reveal his ulterior motive for housing him. “Well, you’re free to move in whenever you feel the need to.”

“I can move in tonight,” Steven said. “After the party, I’ll grab my things from the motel and move in.”

Ford shot a quick wink at Dipper and turned back to Steven. “Sounds like a plan! You’re free to return back to the party, Dipper and I are going to, er, tidy up a bit for you. This room is a bit dusty, after all.”

“Oh, it’s okay!” Steven smiled. “I can do that when I come back with my stuff.”

“No, no, don’t trouble yourself,” Ford held out his hands. “Dipper and I can handle it. Feel free to go ahead and rejoin the party, meet your new neighbors and whatnot.”

“Are you sure?” Steven asked. “I can help out if you’d like.”

“We insist! Let us go ahead and take care of this room and we’ll return back to the celebration shortly.”

“Well, as long as it’s all right with you,” Steven replied, starting to walk out of the room. “Thanks again!”

As soon as he disappeared out of the Shack, Ford turned to Dipper. “So, what do you think?”

“What do I _think?”_ Dipper threw up his hands. “This is crazy! How are you so calm about letting someone like _that_ into the Shack? He could be worse than Bill and we would have no idea!”

“Dipper, listen,” Ford tried to calm him down. “I know it’s a bit difficult to understand, but this is the best way we can monitor him. Besides, you know Stan and I won’t let him lay a finger on you or Mabel. Having him live and work at the Mystery Shack will help us work out who he really is and what he’s capable of. If Stanley hadn’t offered him that job, he could be in a completely different state in a day’s time.”

Dipper sighed. “You’re right. I’m just worried. I mean, what if he’s more than we can handle?”

“Dipper, all we know right now for sure is that he can possibly create sentient plants. We don’t know that he’s the one that halted the sea life or if he’s the one that brought it back or both. We’ll learn more the better we get to know him. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I need you to trust that Stan and I know what we’re doing.” Ford placed a hand on his nephew. “Can you do that for me?”

Dipper looked up at Ford for a moment. On one hand, the feeling of having Steven live with him and his family still filled him with dread. However, on the other hand, Dipper had learned that if there was any group of people he could trust with his life, it was his family.

He nodded. “Mabel and I will keep a close eye on him, I promise.”

Ford gave him a smile. “Thank you, Dipper. Now, we should probably at least dust in here so he doesn’t suspect anything. After we’re done tidying up this room, we can meet back up with Stan and Mabel.”

As Dipper ran to grab some cleaning supplies from beneath the kitchen sink, a question crossed his mind. As he walked back into the room and handed Ford a feather duster, he asked, “Hey, Grunkle Ford? Why did you ask me to stay behind at the party when you were leading Steven to the room?”

Ford dusted off the lamp and sighed. “I was worried he had already seen right through us. Mostly, I was afraid he would try to hurt you, Dipper. If he turned hostile toward me because he suspected that we knew, I don’t know what I could have done to protect you. I was scared.”

Dipper looked at his great-uncle. He seemed so much more tired and older than ever. He hadn’t had much time to rest once he had left the Stan o’ War II and it showed. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened if Steven had turned on him when he was alone. Secretly, he was glad he had insisted on coming along with them.

“Can you start cleaning off the desk, Dipper?”

“Sure thing, Grunkle Ford!”

Dipper grabbed a rag and the wood cleaner. As he started to wipe down the desk, he inhaled a fair amount of dust and started to cough uncontrollably.

Ford couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll grab a cup of water.”

Ford made his way toward the sink and filled up a glass of water to the brim. He returned back to the room and handed the cup to Dipper. As he started to down the cup almost immediately, Ford cleared his throat. He wasn’t much good at this, but he wanted to give it a shot. Now was as good a time as any. “So, Dipper, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?”

Dipper, gasping after drinking all of the water in the cup, looked up at his uncle. “Like what?”

“Well, you know,” Ford wished this weren’t so difficult for him. “Anything. How does it feel coming back to Gravity Falls after everything that happened last summer?”

“Fine,” Dipper answered curtly, turning back to the desk in order to have an excuse to not look at Ford. “I haven’t really had time to think about it.”

“Right, right,” Ford couldn’t think of anything else to say. He dusted more areas of the room, reaching the corners that had attracted some pretty impressive cobwebs.

After a few moments of silence, Ford tried again. “I know what happened last year was probably something of a traumatic experience for you. Stan and I are still struggling with what had happened. Are you talking to anyone about what happened?”

Dipper ignored the sinking feeling in his stomach. He focused on scrubbing one particularly tricky stain on the desk. “What? No, I’m fine. Seriously. I’m okay with what happened last summer. I haven’t felt the need to talk to anyone. Why do you ask?”

Ford looked at his nephew with concern. “Just curious.”

They spent a few more moments making sure the room was at least somewhat acceptable. After Ford had dusted everything he could reach, he turned to Dipper, who was lazily wiping down whatever looked slightly messy.

Ford sighed and decided that they had done enough. “That should be good enough, don’t you think?”

Dipper looked around the room, unimpressed. “Really? We haven’t even swept up the dust yet.”

Ford shrugged. “Well, he did say he didn’t mind helping. I’m sure he won’t mind having to sweep for a bit. Come on, let’s go back.”

Dipper gave no argument against doing so. Ford watched as he walked back to the kitchen to put the cleaning supplies away and felt his heart sink as he noticed how different his nephew was from last summer. Had time really been the thing to change him? His affinity for the unnatural was still there, but he seemed so dejected. He just wished that there was a way for him to get through to him. He was never any good at emotional things like that. Stanley was the one to talk with him about the events of last summer and the things he had endured for the past thirty years. Though Stan rarely understood half of what he was talking about, it was just nice to talk. Maybe he would have a word with his brother about trying to get through to Dipper.

As Dipper and Ford rejoined the party, Dipper noticed Steven was currently talking to Wendy excitedly. Wendy was listening with a grin on her face, nodding along to what he was saying. As if keeping Steven around could get any worse, Dipper felt a slight twinge of jealousy. He knew that things were over for him and Wendy—that is, if things had ever started in the first place—but he couldn’t help feeling envious of Steven for his age. If he were only a few years older, then maybe him and Wendy would have a chance. Dipper sighed. It wasn’t productive to think of what could’ve been—he knew that—but he couldn’t stop himself.

The party carried on in full swing until the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. Steven was one of the first to leave. He was so excited to move in and start his new life at the Mystery Shack, he wanted to gather his things at the motel and leave as quickly as possible. He turned in his key at the front desk, refused a refund, and drove off to start this new chapter at the Shack.

He arrived in the Dondai less than an hour after he left. To his surprise, Wendy was still there. She had been so nice to him, listening to all his questions and even joking around with him. He was glad she was one of the first friends he was able to make in Gravity Falls.

Along with Wendy, two of Mabel’s close friends were also there. The three of them were talking amongst themselves in higher frequencies than what Steven was used to. Sitting on the porch, Soos and Melody were laughing and holding hands. Dipper seemed to be in an intense conversation with Stan and Ford.

Steven stepped out of the Dondai with his bags and waved toward them. “Hey guys, I’m all ready to move in!”

Dipper stopped what he was saying and looked back at Steven, dejected. “I still can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Look on the bright side,” Stan started. “At least I’m getting some money off of him staying here.”

“Though technically, as this was originally _my_ research facility, I think I should be getting a majority of the profits,” Ford teased.

“Yeah, well, uh,” Stan was at a loss for words. “Technically, it was my idea, so you should shut yer yap.” He punched his brother on the shoulder as Ford laughed.

Steven walked up to the three of them with his first suitcase full of belongings and a huge smile. “Hey, I just wanted to say thanks again. This is more than I could have hoped for. I promise, you won’t regret this!”

Stan was thrown off by this guy’s seemingly genuine words. He quickly brushed off his initial surprise and hurriedly replied, “Yeah, don’t sweat it, kid.”

“Do you need any help with your bags?” Dipper asked, hoping that he would be able to get closer to observe Steven by helping.

“That would be nice, thanks!” Steven responded. Though he was most likely able to carry all of his belongings in one trip, he didn’t want anyone to freak out over it. He didn’t feel like answering all of the questions that would come with a display of his superhuman strength.

As Dipper helped him carry his belongings into his new room, he tried to take note of anything Steven did. The way he walked, the way he carried his bags, the way he opened the door for Dipper. He was suspicious of all that Steven did. What he couldn’t understand is how this guy was able to be so nice or so trusting toward a bunch of strangers. No one is just... _like_ that _,_ right? Clearly, this must mean that he was only a moment away from snapping on any one of them and… maybe just turning the plants around them into sentient warriors?

Dipper sighed. Or maybe this was all a giant coincidence. After all, though the plants did look exactly like him, there could be another dozen people out there who look like those plants. Maybe Steven was just a regular person.

As Dipper dropped off the last bag in Steven’s room, Steven gave him a wide smile. “Thanks for helping! Now all I have to do is put everything away.”

“Well, good luck with that,” Dipper said dejectedly as he began to walk out of the room. Thinking that this could all just be a dead end made him more disappointed than he cared to admit. “Let me know if you need anything else. Mabel and I live up in the attic, so you’re welcome to come up there whenever you need us.”

“Thanks,” Steven smiled as he watched Dipper leave.

He looked at his belongings on the ground around him and decided to settle on the couch just for a moment. This was going to be good for him. Just for a few months, he could pretend like he was just a normal teenager. This will be great.

Steven sighed, enjoying his new surroundings. As soon as he was ready to start settling in, he heard the ringtone he reserved for Connie’s number go off. Eager to tell her all of the exciting details of his day, he picked up immediately.

“Hey, Connie!”

“Hi, Steven!” she smiled brightly. It had taken her a bit to find a comfortable place to video call her boyfriend, but it was worth it. She loved seeing his cute face every chance she could get. “How’s Gravity Falls?”

Steven beamed. “It’s great. Connie, you’ll never believe what happened!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo! i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! all of the positive feedback has really inspired and encouraged me to keep going with this and i can't thank you all enough for all the kudos, comments, and just in general all the love that this fic has generated. more about this chapter now: i hope some of you guys caught the little nod to @anna-scribbles when steven sees the picture of mabel for the first time! though i won't be taking anything directly from the fanart that's been on tumblr, i think i'll keep adding little nods and crediting the artists within the chapter notes. other than that, i'm excited to implement some of my own trans!dipper headcanons! i love those theories so much and as a trans man myself i find myself gravitating toward them. we'll definitely see some more positive interactions w him being trans (such as some bonding between shared experiences of being called the wrong name/gender *cough* *cough*), but for right now i definitely want to drive home some of the trauma dipper's been through. these poor twins haven't really had the time to process what happened last summer, and being back in gravity falls after a year is definitely going to bring some of it up. again, i'll add TW in the chapter summaries for anything that could be distressing. if there is anything you specifically need tagged, feel free to message me privately on tumblr and i'll look to make sure i either avoid that topic or tag it. if there's anything you want to see changed about the tagging system, please lmk! i'm not going to add gore or any nsfw (they're all minors, so gross), so you won't have to worry about that. anyway, thank you as always for reading! let me know in the comments if you have any constructive criticism or if there's anything in particular that you liked. i always enjoy hearing from you guys!! <3 see you next monday!


	4. Settling In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Steven moves into the Mystery Shack, he decides that the best course of action is to call his loved ones and let them know where he's staying and why he is choosing to take up a summer job. Meanwhile, the twins discuss the possibility of Steven being supernatural.

“You got a _job?”_ Connie Maheswaren almost dropped her phone. This was entirely unexpected. “Steven, that’s so… mature of you. But isn’t that exactly the thing you were trying to avoid by going on this road trip? I thought you wanted to find yourself on the open road.”

“I figured I could try finding myself at this new job,” Steven responded cheerfully. “I mean, isn’t this a normal teenage thing to do? Getting a summer job might suit me.”

“Maybe,” Connie considered how Steven might react if he were overly stressed at his job and realized that thinking too much about it would stress _her_ out. “Are you sure that this is a good idea? I mean, haven’t you done enough work? You deserve a break.”

Steven shrugged. “Considering everything else I’ve been through, just being able to act like an ordinary human is enough of a break.”

Connie couldn’t effectively argue against that. “Just make sure you’re keeping up with your therapist and doing what you can to monitor your mental health. I’m glad you’re excited about this job offer, but I’m also worried, Steven. If it turns out to be more stressful than you can handle, promise me you’ll quit.”

“I promise,” Steven had planned on it anyway. If he found himself falling down further into his trauma and depression, he would just tell Soos that he had to move along.

“Well, okay then,” Connie gave a soft sigh of relief. “How’s everyone treating you so far?”

“Everyone’s been really nice to me so far! It’s just, well, you know how I am with people.”

Connie nodded. “Are you having difficulty talking to them?”

“A bit,” Steven sighed. “Is it really so difficult to believe my last name is Universe?”

Connie giggled. “Maybe a little. My parents didn’t believe it at first, either. And it’s not like you have a birth certificate or social security number to prove it.”

“Exactly,” Steven groaned. “I’m just glad they didn’t ask me for anything like that before hiring me. That might have been a disaster.”

“Wait, Steven, what?” Connie’s alarms immediately started going off in her mind. “They didn’t ask you for any papers? Steven, did they even give you a proper _job interview?”_

“Uh,” Steven avoided meeting Connie’s eyes. “No?”

Connie stared at Steven for a minute at a loss for words. How did he not realize how sketchy all of this was?

“Connie, it’s okay,” Steven tried to reason with her. “I mean, I know I used to say that a lot, but I mean it this time.”

“Steven, they’re charging you rent for a spare room and are asking you to work for them with no promise of a proper paycheck,” Connie said bluntly. “Have you considered that maybe this could be a complete scam? You said they were so eager to hire you and to keep you in town. Don’t you think they could have a reason for that?”

“What? No, they’re really nice,” Steven tried to defend the family housing him for the entire summer. “Besides, I _wanted_ a job here. I can’t explain it, but this place is calling to me. It’s a different type of weirdness than I’m used to with the gems, but it’s similar enough that it’s familiar. This will be good for me!”

“Steven, I love you, but you are… really trusting,” Connie sighed. “Even after everything that’s happened, I love how you’re so willing to see the best in people and use that to uplift others. But it also scares me. Would it be okay if I come to visit sometime next week in order to confirm that you’re okay?”

“Of course it is! Why wouldn’t it be? I love seeing you and spending time with you.”

Connie gave a small sigh and smiled. “I love seeing you too, Steven. I’m just a bit nervous is all.”

Steven beamed at her. “I know. But I’m okay with this, really. I’m excited, even. I know you’ll understand why once you come to visit.”

Connie nodded, trying to convince herself that Steven could have actually gotten hired at a legitimate business. “Have you told the gems yet?”

Steven gave a nervous laugh. “You were kind of my test run.”

Connie looked at her disaster of a boyfriend and shook her head. “Oh, boy. Well, I’m sure they’ll be thrilled you’re safe and happy.”

“Yeah,” Steven said. “They should be cool with it.”

“Well,” Connie looked sweetly at Steven. “I should go ahead and let you call them. Text me and let me know how everyone handled the news!”

“Of course!” Steven gave a small wave. “I love you, Connie! Talk to you later.”

“I love you too, Steven. Good night!”

“Good night.”

As he hung up the phone, Steven was immediately hit with her absence. Lately, he found himself missing her so much it ached, even once he had gotten done talking to her. He sighed as he found Pearl’s phone number and dialed it. He was sure that Pearl of all the gems would understand why he wanted to stay here and work at the Mystery Shack. In fact, he was almost certain that she would praise him for taking the mature steps to go out and get a job of his own, if even for a few months.

“Hello, Steven!” Pearl answered. “How was your first day in Gravity Falls?”

“Hi Pearl,” Steven responded, happy to see her face once more. “It was pretty eventful. There was a huge party welcoming this family back to town, and I met a lot of people in town. I know this is going to sound like a lot, but I even got a job at the shop where the party took place at. It’s this tourist trap called the Mystery Shack! They even offered me a pretty sweet room to stay in while I work here.”

“What?” Pearl furrowed her brows. “Steven, why on Earth would you want a job?”

“To be more responsible and mature and…” Steven trailed off. “Isn’t this a good thing?”

“Well,” she began, looking off to the side. “I figured that you were going to keep looking for a place to settle down in.”

“I am! I’m just taking the summer off. Then I’ll be back on the road travelling across the country.”

“Hm,” Pearl rested her chin on her free hand. “Well, I suppose that’s understandable. Are you sure this is the right decision, though? I don’t want you to get overworked and stressed and….”

Pearl left the sentence hanging in the air, but Steven knew what she was saying. She didn’t want him to become corrupted again.

“Pearl, I promise, I’ve got this under control,” Steven reassured her. “I just… I think this place suits me. There’s the promise of a lot of unusual things that aren’t gem-related, and for once I feel like I can actually be human here.”

Pearl looked at him, trying to piece together the fragments of her thoughts. “I thought you were learning to accept your gem-half. Steven, are you… are you ashamed of us?”

“What?” Steven furrowed his brows together at the notion. “Of course not! I love you guys, and I love my powers and being able to use them for good. I just… don’t want to freak anyone here out, is all. Besides, even though I’m learning to love being myself, gem and all, I still don’t really know how to truly embrace my human half. I’ve spent a huge portion of my life being a gem. I just want to spend a summer being human.”

She blinked, stunned by his response. Then she smiled. “It’s been so long since we’ve talked openly. I’ve forgotten how mature you are.”

Steven looked at her, unsure of what to say. Finally, Pearl broke the silence.

“I guess I’m just scared that you’re going to end up… hurt, again. That’s all. But if this is what you truly want, I’ll always be here to support you.”

“This isn’t like last time,” Steven said. “I really do mean it when I say that this is what I want, and that I’m okay. Some peace and quiet out in the woods at a small summer job is the perfect thing I need after a few weeks on the road.”

Pearl nodded. “After all you’ve been through within the past few months, I don’t doubt it. Well, since you’re calling me, would you like me to grab the others so you can break the news? Greg is fast asleep right now, otherwise I’d wake him.”

“Yes please,” Steven grinned.

Soon, Amethyst and Garnet popped into the frame.

“Wow, calling us twice in two days? We must be like, really important to you or something,” Amethyst joked.

“Of course you’re important to me!” Steven exclaimed. “I think about you guys all the time.”

“Aw, Steven,” Amethyst grinned. “I was just joking, dude. But we miss you, too.”

Garnet nodded. “It hasn’t been the same without you.”

“So, Steven,” Pearl spoke up. “Go ahead and share what you’ve been up to.”

“Oh, yeah!” Steven wiped the tears forming in his eyes before continuing. “Guys, I just got a job at this place called the Mystery Shack. They’re offering me a room to stay in while I work here, and I’m really excited about it! I’ll only stay for a few months, just until the summer ends.”

Garnet spoke, “Steven—”

“WHAT?” Amethyst immediately interrupted. “You got a JOB? Dude, why? Didn’t Greg give you loads of money before you left? If I were you, man, I wouldn’t stress about working for, like, a million years.”

“Well, it’s not just about money,” Steven began. “I think this place is really calling out to me. I think it would be fun to get a summer job and to act like a regular teenager for once.”

“Whatever you say,” Amethyst shrugged.

“Steven,” Garnet tried once more. “Just make sure that this place doesn’t take too much of a toll on your mental health.”

Pearl nodded. “That’s a good point. If it becomes too much for you to handle, you can always just bail. Remember?”

Steven snorted. He couldn’t believe she was bringing that up again. It was so long ago… and most of the time he tried not to think about it. He’d been working with his therapist to view these memories through the lens of acceptance—accepting that they happened and that accepting all of the feelings that came with them—and he tried now to process this memory.

Okay, so… he accepted that Pearl built a spaceship and that it nearly exploded with both of them inside while they were trying to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. That was something that happened. And he almost died. He and Pearl almost died. He accepted that. Didn’t he? Steven frowned. This wasn’t coming easily to him. It was all so much. Maybe it would be easier to process how he felt about it.

He felt… scared. Scared beyond belief. Desperate, even. He wanted Pearl to bail so badly, but she was so determined to show him space. He tried to accept the feelings he had during that time, all of the negative feelings of hopelessness and fear, but he just felt himself being overwhelmed by them. He decided to stop for now. He had another therapy session in a few days, perhaps he should try and bring that memory up then.

“Steven?” Pearl was used to Steven’s sudden silence following something that triggered a flashback of his past trauma. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. Are you okay?”

Steven came back to reality. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Sorry, just processing. I’ll go over it with my therapist in our next meeting.”

“Don’t ever apologize for how you handle this,” Garnet said. “We want you to do whatever you need to in order to feel better.”

“Yeah, man,” Amethyst piped up. “We’re going to love you and be here for you no matter what happens.”

“We just want you to be happy,” Pearl added. “And we’ll do whatever we can to help.”

Steven felt tears welling up in his eyes again. “Thanks, guys. This new job is making me happy, honestly.”

“As long as it’s what you want,” Garnet said. “We’ll be glad to visit you there whenever you want to see us.”

“Uh, maybe not for a little bit,” Steven wasn’t sure how he could still be a regular human being and explain why three women with gemstones permanently embedded on their bodies were coming to visit him. “I don’t want people to know about my powers and get freaked out or treat me differently.”

Garnet frowned. “Steven, you shouldn’t keep a part of yourself hidden from these people.”

“It’s not like I’m lying!” Steven defended. “I just want to pretend for a few months that I’m just a human. There doesn’t seem to be any corrupted gem activity around here, so I won’t have to use my powers or anything. It should be okay.”

“Yeah, but dude, that doesn’t seem healthy,” Amethyst said.

“Maybe? I guess?” Steven hadn’t thought about it. “It’s not like I dislike being part-gem, it’s just that I haven’t had the chance to be human in a really long time. I think this will be nice.”

Garnet sighed. “Just make sure you’re checking in with yourself.”

“Of course!” Steven smiled. “I plan on leaving if it becomes too much.”

“That’s good!” Pearl said. “Make sure you let us know when you leave and where you go, okay?”

Steven nodded. “Always.”

“We’ll be looking out for you,” Amethyst grinned.

Garnet pulled down her shades and winked. “Literally.”

Steven laughed. “Thanks, guys. I’ll call you again soon. I’m gonna go ahead and get settled in for the night. I love you!”

“We love you too, Steven!” the gems responded in unison before the call ended.

Steven fell back on the couch and stared at the ceiling. He was planning on unpacking, but Connie’s assertion that this was a scam was starting to gnaw at him. Was this suspicious? Steven hadn’t initially given any thought to how quickly Mr. Pines was willing to have him hired, but now that he was dwelling on it, he realized that it was pretty weird to hire someone within the first five minutes of meeting them.

He sighed. He really wanted this to work, really wanted to become a part of the Mystery Shack and get to work with some pretty incredible things. If it all turned out to be a lie, he would be crushed.

Steven tried to reassure himself. Sure, the hiring process may have been sketchy, but Soos seemed to be a genuinely nice person. The Pines all seemed to be pretty nice to him as well. Stan had been the first to offer him the position, Mabel was endearing, Ford had shown him to his room and offered him reasonable rent, and Dipper had helped him move in! They were so kind to him immediately. He smiled. This couldn’t be a scam. They just had some different business practices. He could respect that.

As Steven began to drift to sleep downstairs after some consideration that he could have been tricked into a scam, Dipper was wide-awake upstairs with Mabel trying to build a conspiracy board centered around their new guest. While Mabel’s lamp had been turned off hours ago, Dipper still had his lantern on as he continued to bounce his ideas to his sister.

“The water had to mean _something,_ right? I mean, if he can make sentient plants and plants need water, and the mysterious plants started showing up in the ocean, there has to be some connection, right?”

Mabel yawned. “Dipper, maybe he’s just a regular guy? I mean, you said yourself that the plants could have just been a coincidence.”

“Isn’t it strange though that he’s on a road trip in the first place?” Dipper pointed to a hastily written note on the conspiracy board that read “RUNNING FROM SOMETHING? SOMEONE?”

“People take road trips sometimes, dumb dumb,” Mabel shrugged. “It’s not super weird.”

“But that combined with the plants, it’s almost like he was drawn here. Think about it. All Gravity Falls does is attract the supernatural. And then this mysterious stranger, Steven ‘Universe,’ shows up on the exact same day that we do and Grunkle Ford immediately recognizes him as one of the anomalies he and Stan saw on their travels at sea. It’s too much of a coincidence to not mean anything! Not to mention how much money he seemingly has. I mean, who just has $200 in cash on them?”

“Maybe he’s a prince of some underwater society. I wonder if he knows Mermando.” She gasped. “Maybe Mermando told him about me and he’s here to protect me!”

Dipper stared at his sister, then back to the conspiracy board he was creating. “If he was a prince, then maybe that would explain—wait, no! Mabel, I seriously doubt he has that much money from being underwater royalty.”

“Well, you don’t know that!” Mabel responded. “If he’s not a prince, then maybe he’s a baron or he made all of his money off of the undersea stock market.”

“I really doubt it,” Dipper said, taking a closer look at his corkboard. “Besides, if he were a mermaid, he wouldn’t be able to survive for long on land. Remember Mermando?”

Mabel chuckled. “I’m sure _you_ remember Mermando, considering you had to—”

“Never mind!” Dipper cried out, feeling his face grow hotter at the memory of giving reverse CPR to the mermaid prince. “Man, I kind of wished I wiped that from my memory when I had the chance.”

“It’s okay, Dip. At least I’d still have the picture,” Mabel pulled out her scrapbook and flipped to the picture of Dipper kissing Mermando. “Ah, blackmail!”

“Mabel, seriously! Focus here. I think we can safely rule out mermaid royalty, but another underwater creature might explain his appearance. I’m thinking maybe he’s some type of selkie or something. A selkie with weird, plant powers. Wouldn’t really explain all of the money he has, though.”

“I think we can safely say selkie prince with weird plant powers is a pretty good theory,” Mabel piped up.

“No it’s not,” Dipper shot down the idea quickly as he turned back to face Mabel. “I think if he was a prince of any kind, he wouldn’t need to get a job. Especially not a job at a place like this.”

Mabel shrugged. “You said it yourself, Dipper. Gravity Falls attracts weirdness. Is there really anything weirder than some unexplainable selkie prince going on a cross-country road trip in order to escape the pressure of being an heir to an enormous undersea empire?”

“Mabel, I could name at least ten other things weirder than that,” Dipper sighed. “But fine, sure, we’ll put ‘selkie prince’ under the list of things Steven could potentially be.”

“Yes!” Mabel exclaimed.

Dipper walked over to his bed and fell backwards onto it. “We have to keep an eye on him, like Grunkle Ford said. All I really know about him for right now is that he looked identical to the plants in the ocean, he’s on a road trip and mysteriously arrived here as soon as we got here, and he’s rich.”

“Dipper, do you really think that’s enough to try and keep tabs on him?” Mabel turned over to her side to look at her twin. “I mean, what if he _is_ just a normal guy trying to go on a road trip? Even if he is running from something or someone, wouldn’t that just make it worse? He’s just trying to find some place to stay for a while. Shouldn’t we just be nice to him?”

“What if this guy is stronger than Bill was? What if he could snap at any moment? We have no idea what he’s capable of, Mabel. He could bring about the end of the world! We have to be careful.”

“Dipper, listen to yourself,” Mabel frowned. “You’re not making any sense. So far he’s been pretty nice. He’s not manipulative or evil, and he hasn’t tried to kill us yet or destroy our property or make a deal with us so that he can possess our bodies. He’s nothing like Bill.”

“You don’t know that,” Dipper argued.

“Okay, but you don’t know he’s worse than Bill, or if he’s even supernatural at all.”

“I trust Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan,” Dipper stated bitterly. “And they don’t trust him. Just because you don’t care enough about stopping _the end of the world_ doesn’t mean--”

Dipper bit his tongue as he saw Mabel’s face in the soft lantern light. Her eyes were welling up with tears. She turned to the wall to avoid meeting Dipper’s eyes, but he still heard her soft sniffles. Dipper looked at his sister sadly. How could he have been so careless? He knew she still blamed herself for Weirdmaggedon. He knew she would never openly admit it, but he was her twin. He understood her more than anyone else just as she understood him. He knew how she felt.

“Mabel, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—"

“Don’t you think that I trust them too, Dipper?” Mabel turned to face her brother, face red from crying. Tears were still falling down her face. “Don’t you think I want to stop the end of the world?”  
  
He looked over at his twin, unsure of how to respond. “Mabel, I was wrong for saying that. Of course I know you trust Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan. I know you would do anything to save the world, and you have! All I’m saying is—”

“I know what you’re saying,” she interrupted, looking at her brother earnestly. “But can’t we just have a normal summer this year? I don’t want to go back to these conspiracies again. Maybe in the beginning it was fun last summer, but I can’t think of how many times hunting down the truth about the journals put our lives in danger. Can’t we just leave it alone for once?”

Dipper dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry, Mabel. We can drop it if it’s too much. I’m just nervous, that’s all.”

“Don’t you think I’m nervous too?” Mabel avoided Dipper’s eyes and started playing with her hair. “I never want to face another threat like Bill again. But I don’t think that Steven’s anything like that. I can just tell. I know you trust Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan, but can’t you trust me too?”

Dipper sighed, then gave a small smile. After everything they’ve been through together, it went without saying. “Of course I trust you. If you think that this is just a dead end, then I can drop it.”

“Really, Dipper?” Mabel looked at her brother, shocked that he agreed to stop before things got too out of control. “You mean it?”

Dipper nodded. “Yeah. Besides, you’re probably right. I’ll talk to Grunkle Ford about it in the morning.”

Mabel smiled brightly. “You’re the best, Dipper.”

He returned the smile. “Well, I don’t want you to be upset just because I’m obsessing over some conspiracy again.”

Mabel tucked into bed next to Waddles, who was already fast asleep. “Good night, Dipper. I promise, we’ll have other mystery twin adventures this summer. I just want to leave this alone.”

“Yeah,” Dipper replied, not entirely convinced that Steven was human. “Good night, Mabel.”

He reached out toward the table where the lantern was at and turned it off. Darkness engulfed the room. As Mabel drifted off to sleep, Dipper couldn’t ignore the gnawing feeling in his stomach. Secretly, he decided he would keep trying to find out more information about Steven on his own. If this was too much for Mabel, he wouldn’t ask her to get involved. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something strange about Steven.

As Dipper’s mind filled with thoughts of what Steven could potentially be, he soon drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! i really sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter. it's been a rough week for me, but i always get cheered up by seeing all of the positivity this story has brought. that being said, i'm sorry this has a little bit of a later update time. i've been working full time and my job just reopened (because screw essential workers amirite), so i've been trying to write this in a bit more of a crunch time than usual. regardless, i hope you guys still enjoy it and as always, critique and positive comments are always welcome! hope you guys are staying safe and self-quarantining as best you can ^u^


	5. Well, Well, Welcome Back!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven has a dream.

Steven was dreaming.

This was unusual. For the past few months since his recovery began, he had consistently dreamless nights. He wasn’t complaining; usually when he dreamed, it would become another psychic episode where he projected himself onto someone else or something else. As he hadn’t had many dreams since he started therapy, he took it as a sign that he was getting better.

The fact that he was dreaming now in a house full of new people worried him. If he ended up going inside one of the Pines’ minds, how would he be able to explain that? Not only that, but what if his subconscious was shown through the TV or someone’s phone? He would have to explain all about being a gem, and not just _any_ gem, but the son of a gem matriarch who rebelled against her home planet. He’d probably also have to explain how he went into outer space to deal with his tyrannical family and convince them to stop destroying planets. Then, after they were able to process all of that, he would have to explain his psychic powers that he still had little understanding of himself.

It would be too much. They would probably just kick him out of the Shack immediately, no questions asked. To be honest, Steven wouldn’t blame them.

Steven tentatively looked around his new surroundings. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to be in anyone’s mind for the moment. He was simply standing alone in a black-and-white forest.

As Steven heaved a sigh of relief, he decided to look around his surroundings. Maybe this was a film noir dream version of Camp Pining Hearts?

He shuddered. After what had happened between him and Peridot a few months prior, he sincerely hoped it wasn’t. Besides, he hadn’t seen so much as a side character yet.

He continued walking, hoping that he would find someone or something of note. He concluded that these trees looked similar to the forest right outside of the Mystery Shack, therefore he shouldn’t be too far from where he was staying for the summer. After he settled on that being the most likely answer, he couldn’t understand what he was meant to be doing there, and if he was even meant to be doing anything at all. His dreams weren’t typically so uneventful. There always seemed to be an underlying message or meaning to all of his dreams; whether it was finding Malachite, or helping the gems defeat Malachite, or to communicate to his dad and Bismuth that he was trapped with Connie in space. Just walking around in a colorless forest for the rest of the night until he woke up didn’t seem like a typical dream for him. However, considering he wasn’t invading anyone else’s dreams, he was okay with it.

A soft breeze brushed past him as he continued walking. As he wandered about, he began to talk to himself.

“I suppose it would make sense that I’m dreaming about the forest now. I mean, I guess it’s what Connie’s talking about with dream symbolism. Maybe this just means a new beginning? A fresh start?”

He looked up at the trees, pondering what it could all mean. “Maybe the trees symbolize the outdoors? Wait, no, that doesn’t sound right. Maybe it’s just… freeing myself from expectations? Growing to new heights? Getting a new perspective?”

Steven sighed. “I wish Connie was here with me. She would know what this means.”

Steven spent a few moments walking through the wilderness silently. The trees were so much different than what he was used to in Beach City, or anywhere else he had stayed on his cross-country journey so far. Connie was right about the forests of the northwest being completely unique to the rest of the country.

Steven made it to a clearing. There was a fallen log which would have been ideal to sit on and grass growing over a strange statue nearby. Steven was transfixed. For whatever reason, he couldn’t help but be entranced by the statue. He took a step forward to inspect it further, but then stopped himself. For whatever reason, he had an odd feeling that there was nothing about that statue that was normal—even for him. He figured it would be best to leave it alone for the time being.

He instead focused his sight upwards. Looking up at the massive trees around him, an idea struck him. “I wonder if I could at least float up there, just to see what it was like. I’ve never been to the top of a tree that large before!”

Steven tried to jump up to the top of the tree, but he quickly dropped back to Earth. Confused, he looked down at his hands. “That’s strange. Usually in dreams, I’m still able to use some of my…. My powers…?!”

He noticed for the first time that he was entirely pink.

He hadn’t glowed pink ever since he turned into a monster. There were moments when he was close, but he was never full-on pink like this. His stomach sank as he was filled with dread.

“Wh-what’s happening to me? Where am I?” Steven spoke, startled. “Why can’t I use my powers? If this is a dream, shouldn’t I…” he trailed off.

This wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmare. Was he going to become a monster again? Was he already pink in the real world? Would he hurt the family he was staying with? The gems couldn’t even fully contain him in his monster form and had to reach out to him emotionally to help him. These humans couldn’t do that, especially not in a nightmare like this.

Even though this wasn’t real—this couldn’t be real, right? --, Steven fell to his knees. His anxiety was climbing. Even in his subconscious, he couldn’t fathom hurting anyone ever again. He never wanted to go back to the point where he was when he shattered Jasper. He never wanted to go back to the mindset where he almost shattered White Diamond. He just wanted to feel better. He knew it was a process, but couldn’t he at least move past _this?_

As Steven kneeled down, he tried desperately to stop glowing pink. Even in his nightmare, he had to fight this, right? Maybe he could use his breathing techniques. This had to be similar enough to a panic attack.

Steven closed his eyes. Out for eight. In for four. Hold for seven. Out for eight.

After a moment had passed, Steven opened his eyes once more, expecting to at the very least be a lighter shade of pink.

Nothing had changed.

“No, no, no,” Steven place his hands on his forehead, still staring at the ground. “This can’t be happening. How is this happening? Please, can’t I just… stop? How do I make this stop?”

“I wouldn’t bother, kid. That won’t go away any time soon.”

Steven looked up. “Who said that?”

A maniacal laugh cut through the silence. “Man, it’s been a while since I’ve had anyone to talk to. You must be pretty powerful, eh, Curly?”

“What? Who are you?”

A bright yellow triangle floated in front of Steven’s face unexpectedly, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards. The creature had a huge eye in the center of his…er…face. He wore a black top hat and a black bow tie. In his right hand, he held a black cane. Steven’s mouth dropped open in awe.

“Name’s Bill Cipher. I figured we’d meet sooner or later, but you look a lot different than I thought you would. New form I’m guessing, right?” He circled Steven, tapping his cane on Steven’s trembling arm. “Though, I have to admit, I didn’t think your kind would be thrilled with your current form.” His eye crinkled, as though he were smirking. “How’d Blue and Yellow take it?”

“B—how did you know?” Steven gasped.

“I know lots of things, Curly,” Bill Cipher put some distance between him and Steven. “Like I know White didn’t take it very well when you confronted her about helping this planet, right?”

Bill used his cane to lift up Steven’s shirt, revealing his gem. Flashbacks of White removing his gem immediately flooded Steven’s mind. He felt his heartbeat quicken. He couldn’t think about that right now, in his dream. He hated that memory. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to accept it. It hurt far too much.

He slapped the cane away and clutched at his gem.

“Whoa, Curly,” Bill laughed. “Did I touch a nerve there?”

Steven glared up at Bill. How…how _dare_ he bring that up?

“Whoa, relax, Star Child,” Bill put out his hands in front of him. “I know you’re not Pink anymore. You’re some sort of freak hybrid, aren’t you?”

“I’m not a freak,” Steven said, still holding his gem.

“Sure, you are, kid. That’s why you came to find me, right?”

“I didn’t… I… I’m dreaming,” Steven spoke aloud, mostly for himself. “I’m dreaming right now.”

“Whatever you say, kid,” Bill mused, clearly enjoying the reaction he was getting out of his visitor. “The line you travel between dreams and the mindscape is less of a line and more of a rusted gate, though. You should know that given everything you’ve been through. Possession, imparting your subconsciousness on unsuspecting victims—I gotta admit, you’re more powerful than any vessel I’ve seen!”

“Victims? Vessel?” Steven fumbled over the words. What was this guy going on about?

“Never mind all that,” Bill floated down to eye level with Steven. “I got a question for you, Curly. Just curious, how’s the Pines family been holding up?”

As he mentioned Pines, Steven noticed that his pupil became a pine tree. He felt a bit unnerved. Is that how people felt when his eyes turned to stars?

“I… They’re great, I guess?” Steven answered hesitantly. He had barely gotten to know them. “Do you know them?”

“You could say that,” Bill said, his eyebrow furrowed. “I offered them great things once, but each of them turned me down and trapped me here.”

“What do you mean?” Steven asked, confused by Bill’s words.

“Look, kid, I kinda like you,” Bill put his arm around Steven. “You’re the first person in a long time that’s been able to see me, which makes you more powerful than I could have ever hoped. But you already knew that already, didn’t you?”

The eye crinkled, almost as though he were smiling. Steven didn’t understand. Why was this triangle talking like he knew all about him?

“How’s about I let you in on a secret? The Pines family is only keeping you around because they’re afraid of you,” Bill stated. “As soon as they figure out what’s weird about you, they’ll dispose you, just like they got rid of me.”

“W-what?” Steven could feel his pink glow getting worse. He only hoped that he was his normal hue in the real world.

“It’s true,” Bill sighed. “I promised them all great things. Pine Tree, Shooting Star, Sixer…” Bill looked away from Steven. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to lose his cool and blow this whole thing. “…Stanley.”

Bill turned back to Steven, composing himself. “But they tricked me and locked me away here for their stupid tourist trap!”

Bill motioned over to the strange statue with his cane, and suddenly Steven understood. The statue… that was him in the real world, wasn’t it? Did the Pines’ really trap him there? Steven felt a chill go down his spine. He could only imagine how powerful the Pines’ must have been if they were able to encase someone in stone like that.

“I only wanted to help them and others. I was going to liberate this dimension, provide unlimited freedom for every being in the universe! In a way, I guess our goals are the same. We both want to provide intergalactic peace. But the Pines’ don’t care about any of that. All they care about is their stupid attraction. They’ve already got me, kid. Don’t let yourself be tricked by them.”

“I don’t… I don’t understand,” Steven stammered, shaking. “The Pines couldn’t have done that. They wouldn’t just… dispose of someone like me—you—would they?”

“Take it from me, Curly, I didn’t want to believe it either,” Bill turned away from Steven. “One day you’re on your way to accomplishing everything you could have ever yearned of in the universe, and the next Stanley Pines is destroying his own mind just to imprison you in stone forever.”

“What?” Steven felt himself grow clammy. What was this triangle talking about? Stan destroyed his mind? How would that make any sense?

“Look, kid, I’m just being honest with you. They’re going to turn on you sooner or later. How do you think they’re going to feel about housing an alien that once had plans to conquer the entire Earth and turn it into a geo-weapon?”

“That… that wasn’t me,” Steven glared up at him, clenching his fists. “I didn’t have anything to do with the Cluster or the Kindergartens! I’ve helped the Earth! I spent so much time fixing everything my mom did, everything the diamonds did. You… you don’t get to rub that in my face when I did everything I could to fix things!”

“Do you really think they’ll believe that?” Bill’s eye crinkled once more, satisfied to get a rise out of Steven. “Face it, Curly. You’re as much of a freak as I am. Once they find out, they’ll destroy you like they destroyed me.”

Steven took a step backward. That… that couldn’t be true, could it? The Pines seemed nice. Besides, this was only a dream. There was no way anything like this creature could be talking to him now.

“I can help, though,” Bill continued. “The Pines are tricky, but the two of us together could stop them from destroying others like us. Others looking to create peace and harmony. With our powers combined, those idiots wouldn’t stand a chance! Think about it. Only a being as powerful as myself could reach me in the mindscape, even after what I’ve been reduced to. Then you show up? It has to be fate! Kid, I can tell we can do great things together.” Bill extended his hand. “All you’ve got to do is—"

“Stop it,” Steven said softly.

“Hey, Curly, I’m not trying to upset you,” Bill Cipher tried to modify his approach, retracting his hand. He knew that if he came on too strong, this kid could completely rebuke him and ruin his plans. “I’m just trying to warn you. If we worked together, we could save others like us from being manipulated by the Pines family.”

“Stop,” Steven kneeled down to the floor, hands over his ears. He could feel his gem glow overpower the rest of his body.

“Listen to me, Steven.” Bill was no longer amused. “Teaming up with me is your best bet in surviving the Pines family. You have no idea what you’re up against. They’ll use whatever they can to destroy you. There’s a reason they’re keeping you close, Curly. Aren’t you even a little bit suspicious of how they tried to keep you around?”

Steven groaned, trying to keep his temper from spilling out.

“Come on, kid,” Bill Cipher floated closer to Steven, anticipating a meltdown any moment. Though he was trying to get the kid to make a deal with him, he couldn’t help reaping the seeds of chaos that he was currently sowing. “Just hear me out. They’ll never accept you, Steven. They’ll only try and hurt you. Like I said, I can help, you’ve only got to—”

“STOP IT!!”

A pink aftershock tore through the mindscape. Bill was forced backwards. He floated upright, looking at Steven with newfound interest. This vessel really _was_ deluxe, wasn’t it?

Steven looked around at the forest, relieved to see that there was no damage around him. He then turned his focus to Bill Cipher, who was a few extra feet away from him than he had been. “I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize, I just—I thought I was getting better. Are you okay?”

“Okay?” The triangle laughed. “Curly, I’m better than okay! If you can do that in the mindscape while you’re asleep, think of what we could do in the real world! Those Pines wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Steven took a step backwards. “No! I don’t want to use my power to hurt people. I just want to be normal for once. I don’t ever want to feel like how I felt when I….”

Steven stopped for a moment. He couldn’t even bring himself to talk about what had happened a few months prior. He couldn’t fathom what he had become, let alone who he had hurt in the process. Why was he thinking of this again? Why did he feel so awful?

“When you turned into that big pink monster in front of all your friends and family?” Bill suggested, eye gleaming.

Steven didn’t respond and clenched his fists.

“You don’t have to say it! I saw everything that happened that day, kid. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

“H-how did you--?”

“Don’t worry about it, Curly! But let me ask you this,” Bill loomed over Steven. “When the Pines’ find out about what you are, do you really think they’ll believe you aren’t a monster anymore?”

Steven froze. He didn’t want to think about that. He didn’t want them to figure out who he was regardless, but the idea of them finding out and immediately being afraid of him made his stomach churn.

Bill held out his hand. “Curly, I know how they’ll feel because they already destroyed me. I just want to help you, kid! All you have to do is shake my hand, and you won’t have to worry about them trying to hurt you.”

Steven stood still, looking at the ground. This was a dream, wasn’t it? Then why did this feel so real? Should he entertain Bill, or should he ignore him and keep moving? He didn’t know what was going on.

“Tick tock, Universe! I don’t have all day. You’re going to wake up sooner or later.”

“H-how do you know I’m asleep right now?” Steven asked.

“As I’ve said before, I know lots of things, Curly, but there isn’t time,” Bill stated impatiently, shoving his hand closer to Steven. Blue flames shot out of the palms of his hand, and Steven took a step back. “We gotta make this deal before you wake up, otherwise we may never see each other again. Then you won’t have any way to protect yourself against the Pines family.”

“I think I can handle myself,” Steven said bluntly. He shoved both hands into the pocket of his jacket and started to turn around.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Bill screeched. “Steven, your best bet is me, kid. I know what is going to happen if you wake up without me. I know how the Pines’ are going to treat you once they know who you are! You _need_ me!”

“Steven! Breakfast is ready!”

A voice. Steven felt the earth beneath him tremble. This dream was falling apart.

“Take my hand or you’ll regret it, kid!” Bill cried out in a desperate attempt to strike a deal.

Steven turned back to the triangle, unsure of what he should do. Bill’s hand was extended even closer to him now.

“What is going to happen?” Steven asked timidly. “If they find out what I can do, what are they going to do to me?”

“Unimaginable things! Terrible, unimaginable things!” Bill responded, using what time he had left to lure Steven in. “Think about it, kid! I’m probably more powerful than you, if not your equal. If they can trap me here, think of what they’ll do to you! Now come on, kid, time is running out! Take my hand!

Steven looked at Bill and then toward his outstretched hand. Steven looked at his own hand, unsure of what to do. “You said you knew,” Steven muttered. “You said you know lots of things. You know exactly what will happen to me. Why not tell me now?”

“There’s no time!” Bill’s eye turned into a clock frantically ticking away. Steven stumbled backward, unnerved by what he had seen. “You just have to trust me, Steven! I’m here to help you.”

Steven felt his chest constrict. _Trust._ That was such a tricky word for him. How long had he lived his life being lied to? How long had his mother lied to everyone, including him, the person who inherited her gem? Could he really trust anyone anymore?

Steven looked down at his hand and raised it slightly. Bill’s eye shone brightly as he reached forward to grab it. _“YES!”_ Bill screamed. “It’s a--!”

“No,” Steven said softly, retracting his hand. “I can’t trust you. I’m sorry, but whatever the Pines’ will do to me, I think I’ll manage it on my own.”

Bill turned completely red. _“WHAT?!”_

“Steven? Steven! Grunkle Stan made Stancakes while Grunkle Ford made actual pancakes! You gotta hurry up if you want the pancakes!”

The world crumbled beneath Steven. He could hear Bill’s agonized shrieking, but it was so far away. He hadn’t shaken his hand in time.

Steven awoke to Mabel knocking recklessly on his door.

“Steven! You awake, buddy?”

“Uh, yeah!” Steven replied groggily. “I’ll be there in a second!”

“Okay!” Mabel piped up cheerfully. “I’ll save you a seat right next to me!”

Steven sighed as he sat up. As he sat on the side of the bed, he looked down at his hands.

There was a small burn mark on his right pinky.

Steven felt chills run down his body as he remembered his strange dream. He shook his head, kissed his injured finger, and went off to join the others at breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy, writing bill cipher was a huge challenge but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! all of your kind words really encourages me to keep writing this and hearing how it's helped others through some rough spots makes it worthwhile to me. as for this chapter, this definitely won't be the last we see of bill cipher! he's still trapped in the mindscape and steven is the only one who can reach out to him, as his power is very similar to bill's. i mean, i didn't want to reveal too much until this chapter, but being able to infiltrate people's dreams and inhabit others' bodies (with or without consent) are definitely powers steven and bill both share. all we need to see now is how the twins will react, mwahahaha...
> 
> as always, feel free to leave a comment letting me know how i can improve and how y'all felt about this chapter! i hope you're all staying safe and healthy <3 see you next monday!


	6. Back to Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven starts his first day as an official employee of the Mystery Shack.

“Who wants pancakes?” Ford asked with a smile, holding out a griddle covered with golden brown pancakes.

Mabel raised her arm excitedly, nearly punching Steven in the face. “Oh, me! I do, Grunkle Ford!”

Ford chuckled and gave her a small stack of two pancakes. “Is that enough for you, pumpkin?”

Mabel nodded excitedly and got out a bottle of Sir Syrup. “You ready for this, Dip?”

Dipper squinted at his sister and popped open the cap of Mountie Man. “You’re on.”

“What’s going on here, exactly?” Steven interjected, confused.

“SYRUP RACE!” the twins shouted in unison, answering Steven’s question by posing another range of questions.

“Smart money’s on Mabel,” Stan nudged Steven with his elbow, sipping on his mug of coffee.

“Well, hold on now,” Ford said, preparing a plate of pancakes for Dipper. “Based on the curvature of Mountie Man’s bottle design, it should enable the syrup to slide out much quicker than Sir Syrup’s design. As you can see, the top of Mountie Man’s bottle is wider than Sir Syrup’s, allowing the syrup in the bottle to come out at a much faster rate than—”

“I won!” Mabel interrupted, coughing on the gob of syrup that had come out of Sir Syrup’s bottle. “Worth it!”

Ford looked at Stan, who simply shrugged. “All your brains can’t beat dumb luck, Poindexter.”

Ford laughed and set down a plate of pancakes in front of Dipper. “Guess not. Steven, did you want any pancakes?”

“Yes, please!” Steven responded, holding out his plate.

Ford gave him a hearty stack of four pancakes, forcing a smile at him. As long as this kid didn’t eat human flesh or anything like that, then he was probably all right for the moment. “You’ll need a big breakfast for your first day today, right?”

Steven nodded, savoring the thought of his first day at a summer job. He couldn’t help feeling like a normal teenager for the first time in what must have been years.

As Steven began to dig into his pancakes, he noticed that Dipper was staring at him. He looked back and managed a small smile. His dream last night had made him kind of wary of the Pines family. He knew that Dipper staring at him probably meant nothing, but it made him slightly anxious nonetheless.

As much as Steven tried to ignore Dipper’s gaze, his mind wandered. What if Dipper was planning where to fit him into the attractions? Being forced to use his powers for a bunch of tourists wasn’t exactly what Steven had in mind for his vacation away from home. Or what if Dipper was planning on how to make Steven into a statue? Being turned into stone also wasn’t on the agenda.

Steven felt a knot grow in his throat. He swallowed a bite of pancakes forcefully and chased it down with a gulp of water. He cleared his throat and focused on the pancakes laid out in front of him, trying to forget about Bill and his terrible dream.

As Steven became lost in his own thoughts, Dipper was caught off guard by Steven’s small smile. He looked down at his pancakes and tried to pretend like he wasn’t suspicious of this strange guest. He couldn’t help but feel that there was something off about Steven this morning. Was it first day jitters, or something more…?

Mabel looked between Steven and Dipper and frowned. She could tell Dipper was coming up with some crazy conspiracy about Steven in his head. She knew it would take some time for Dipper to let go of his suspicions about Steven but, jeez, can’t he just let the poor guy eat his breakfast in peace?

“So, Steven,” she started in between mouthfuls of pancake. “I can’t wait to show you all of the cool things around the Shack! There’s this place on the top of the roof that we go to all the time to get out of working--”

“Mabel!” Dipper hissed. “Stan’s _right_ there! You’ll get us in trouble!”

“Eh, Soos’ problem now,” Stan shrugged. “Besides, I knew you kids were going up to the roof all summer last year when I had to pick up the slack by myself.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Mabel shoved Dipper playfully and continued. “Anyway, Steven, I can also show you how to get free snacks out of the vending machine! Are you ready to get a tour of the Mystery Shack the _Mabel_ way?”

Steven opened his mouth to answer Mabel’s question, but suddenly he was struck with what Bill had said to him in his dream. _They’ll destroy you like they destroyed me._ Steven looked at Mabel smiling kindly at him. If Mabel knew who he really was… would she be treating him as kindly as she was right now? Or would she be looking for a way to… hurt him?

Steven’s stomach flipped over. He realized that he couldn’t push out the thought of the dream he had previously. He suddenly felt too nauseous to eat and put down his fork as his mind began to race with what the Pines’ might do to him if they ever figured out who he truly was.

“Steven?” Mabel asked gently, noticing the change in Steven’s demeanor. “Are you okay? Did you sleep well?”

Steven took a deep breath and gave Mabel a weary smile. “Of course I’m okay. Everything’s fine!”

 _Now where have I heard that before,_ Steven thought, feeling blood rush to his cheeks.

“What I mean is, I’m just a bit nervous, that’s all,” Steven added.

“Don’t be nervous, silly! You’re gonna be…” Mabel whipped out a sticker book and flipped through it quickly before finding a glittery sticker with a cat on it. She slapped the sticker on Steven’s chest and grinned. “Purr-fect!”

Steven looked at the sticker with adoration. This was so… nice. There was no way Mabel would want to hurt him, right?

Steven looked at Mabel with stars in his eyes. “Aw, thanks Mabel!”

Dipper bit his tongue and stared at Steven. What was wrong with him? That had to be something with his weirdness, right? He made a mental note to write about it in the journal once Mabel was asleep tonight.

Dipper had come to the realization that even though he had promised Mabel to drop his suspicions about Steven, he couldn’t curb his curiosity; especially not when Steven did weird things like _that._ He knew Mabel would be disappointed if she saw Dipper document more of Steven’s behavior, but he couldn’t help himself. There was something going on with him. Whether it was dangerous or not, Dipper was determined to get to the bottom of it—whether Mabel wanted to help or not.

“I can’t believe none of you ungrateful kids wanted some Stancakes,” Stan grumbled.

“It’s not our fault we didn’t feel like eating some of your stray hairs,” Dipper said coolly as he took another bite of Ford’s pancakes.

Steven nearly choked on his water. “Wait, what?”

Before he could get an answer, there was the sound of someone opening the door to the living room. “Good morning, Pines family!”

“Hey Soos!” Dipper called while Mabel got up to greet her friend.

“Soos, it’s good to see you!” Mabel ran up to Soos and gave him a big hug.

“It’s good to see you too, Hambone!” Soos smiled. “I’ve been practicing greeting you dudes first thing in the morning for months now. It’s really good to hear someone say something back! Oh, ‘sup, Steven? Sorry I forgot to greet you.”

Steven grinned and got out of his chair to greet his employer. “Hey, Soos!”

“I brought you over something,” Soos started, letting Mabel out of his arms as he began to walk toward Steven. “I figured I didn’t need it anymore, and considering it’s your first day today, here’s a little gift for you!”

He held up a green question mark t-shirt, similar to the one Steven recalled him wearing in the photo he saw. “I figured since you’re a big dude like me, it should fit. I made sure to wash it and everything!”

Steven beamed at him, taken aback by Soos’ kindness. “This is really, really nice. Thank you!”

“No problem, dawg,” Soos said. “Wendy should be here soon to help show you the ropes. You can go ahead and get changed before she gets here if you want. I’m gonna go and get things ready for opening.”

Steven nodded and turned away to get changed in his room. As he left, Dipper turned to Mabel and whispered, “Did you see that thing he did with his eyes? He did that yesterday, too! There’s something weird about him, Mabel.”

“Dipper, we’ve talked about this,” Mabel groaned. “Look, I know it’s gonna take you some time to stop being all stupid, but can’t you just leave him be? He’s not hurting anyone.”

“Not yet!”

“Have you noticed that kid’s been acting a bit strange today?” Ford sat down at the table with a plate full of pancakes in front of him.

Dipper nodded. “I can’t say for sure, but there’s definitely something up with him. Do you have any theories about what he could be?”

Mabel sighed and moved her chair a few inches away from Dipper.

“Nothing so far, but I want to observe him more while he works,” Ford responded quietly, unaware of Mabel’s frustration.

“I think he could be a selkie of some kind,” Dipper continued as Mabel set her head down on the table. “It would make sense that there would be seaweed monsters that look similar to him! Maybe they’re like bodyguards or something, or some sort of special army.”

“Could be. It’s as good a guess as any. Right now, the best thing is to just observe him.”

Dipper beamed, as he often did when he received any sort of feedback or praise from Ford. Mabel rolled her eyes and wished that at the very least they wouldn’t talk about this around her. Was it so bad to ask her brother for a normal summer?

“Whatever that kid is, I don’t trust him,” Stan said, walking up to Dipper and Ford. Mabel covered her face with her arms. “He keeps doing weird things with his eyes! That has to be some sort of abnomaly, right?”

“ _Anomaly,_ Stanley.”

“Whatever.”

“Hey guys!” Steven called out, causing Dipper to jump. “How do I look?”

He stepped out in the kitchen donning Soos’ old Mystery Shack tee. Even though Steven had just arrived at the Mystery Shack, the shirt looked as though it were made for him, waiting for his arrival after all this time. The pink jacket he wore over the shirt complimented his figure nicely. While looking at him, it was hard to imagine that the shirt had belonged to anyone else previously.

Stan, Ford, and Dipper all stared silently at him, unsure of what to say. Steven felt suddenly embarrassed and started picking at his jacket zipper.

“Is everything all right, guys?” he asked.

Mabel picked her head up and grinned, breaking the silence first. “You look great!”

Steven smiled shyly. “Thanks, Mabel.”

Stan was next to offer his praise. He walked toward Steven and put his arm around him. “There he is! The newest addition to the Mystery Shack.”

Ford coughed. “It makes sense that you’d get a Mystery Shack shirt for your first day. It’s a perfect fit!”

Dipper stared silently, still unsure of how to react. Finally, he offered, “It looks good?”

“Thanks, Dipper,” Steven smiled brightly at him.

Mabel got up from the table and grabbed Steven’s arm. “Come on, we gotta start the Mabel tour before the Shack opens!”

“Sure!” Steven said, allowing himself to be pulled around by Mabel. “But wait, shouldn’t Wendy be showing me around?”

“I’ll start off with the vending machine!” Mabel declared, ignoring Steven’s question.

“Wait, Mabel!” Dipper yelped as she vanished into the Shack with Steven behind her.

“Eh, leave her alone,” Stan said.

“I doubt Steven will harm her,” Ford added.

“But he c _ould!”_ Dipper insisted. “I should follow them and make sure—”

“Relax, kid,” Stan pushed Dipper’s cap further down on his head, ruffling his hair. “Whatever Steven is, Mabel can handle it.”

“Yeah, Mabel was able to stand her ground against Bill multiple times. How much more dangerous could Steven be?” Ford replied. “Besides, this will give us a good chance to gain some insight into what kind of creature he could be. While he’s off spending time with Mabel, Wendy, and Soos, we’ll be able to watch him without arousing suspicion.”

“We can’t just use Mabel like bait!” Dipper exclaimed. “We don’t know anything about him! He could be more dangerous than Bill, or—”

“Dipper, if he was more dangerous than Bill, I’m sure he would have tried to kill us by now,” Stan said. “And he hasn’t, right Ford?”

Ford shrugged. “Not to my knowledge, no.”

Dipper felt as though no one else was taking this threat seriously. This was his sister—his _family—_ that “Steven” could be planning on annihilating. Why did no one seem to care?

“Grunkle Ford, weren’t you the one worried about him hurting someone? Didn’t you offer to show him around to protect us _yesterday?”_

Ford sighed. “When he’s alone, he could be a significant threat. Had he been alone in the Mystery Shack, there would be no telling of the destruction he could have caused. Even last night, I stayed up late monitoring the Shack so I could make sure he stayed asleep in his room. Now that Soos and Mabel are spending time with him out in the open, there’s not the risk that he’ll sneak off by himself. Besides, it’s best at this point in our investigation that we observe quietly. That way he doesn’t get suspicious of our actions.”

“But—”

“No butts except for yours out there working for Soos,” Stan pointed out toward where the gift shop was.

Dipper looked at both of his Grunkles, exasperated. How could they both be so calm about this? Even if Steven was being looked after by Mabel and Soos, they weren’t always the most serious.

“I’m going to keep an eye on them,” Dipper stated as he began to walk in the direction that Mabel had pulled Steven off in. “Just to make sure.”

“Whatever,” Stan replied as he settled down into his chair at the table.

“Don’t do anything to arouse his suspicions,” Ford added as he began to write a list of Steven’s oddities in his new journal. “Remember, the key to observation is that we want him to trust us. Keep your enemies close and all that. If you scare him off, it could ruin the whole investigation.”

Dipper walked off frustrated. He knew that Grunkle Ford was right, that it was smarter to let Steven think that they were all friends here, but he couldn’t justify just sitting by and eating pancakes while Steven was off getting a tour from his sister. If Dipper knew one thing, he knew that Mabel was too friendly. Besides, she was willingly ignorant of any abnormalities that Steven was putting on display for them. He knew she had wanted a normal summer, but how could they have that when _Steven_ was around?

Dipper made his way into the gift shop where Mabel was now demonstrating how to get free snacks. He hid behind a rack full of t-shirts that read “SPEND MONEY AT THE MYSTERY SHACK” and observed. As he watched, Steven’s eyes did the weird star thing once more. Dipper bit his lip to keep from screaming. How was Mabel not weirded out by that? Even now, she shared snacks with him, as though he weren’t some unknown intruder in their lives. How could she not see what a freak Steven was?

The sound of a door opening startled Dipper, almost revealing his hiding spot. Laughing, Soos walked in with Wendy.

_Wendy._

Dipper pinched his hand. No, no, _no._ Nothing was ever going to happen between them. He knew this. He had accepted this. He had thought he moved past it, and hadn’t he? Last summer when he left, he was completely over her. Why was this summer different?

He saw Wendy walk over to Steven and give him a high five. Already, they were getting along just fine. Dipper felt his ears get hot. It was stupid to be jealous of Steven for, what, making a friend? He was still jealous though, no matter how stupid it was. Jealous over a teenager he had no chance with.

Dipper sighed. Maybe he was so anxious to prove that Steven was a monster just because it would mean that Wendy wouldn’t have to be around him as much. Mabel would be on his side again, just like last summer when they were tracking down the author of the journals and outsmarting Bill. As terrible as last summer was, it was also incredible. Maybe he was just looking for a mystery that didn’t need to be solved.

Dipper shoved his hands in his pockets walked out to join the others. Mabel beamed at him and Steven gave a small wave.

“Hey Dipper,” Wendy smiled and pressed down playfully on his hat. “Where’ve you been? We can’t get started without you.”

“Yeah, dude,” Soos smiled. “All hands on deck and all that.”

Dipper chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right Soos.”

“Speaking of which,” Soos added. “Melody should be here soon. She had some errands to run this morning, so we’ll have to open without her. You guys ready for some tourists?”

Steven shrugged. “I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m ready!”

“That’s the spirit!” Soos unlocked the doors to the Shack as the first tourists were starting to pull into the parking lot. The Mystery Shack was officially open.

As Soos walked out to the porch to greet the tourists filing in, Wendy turned to Mabel and Dipper. “You two gotta handle gift shop duties while I show Steven the ropes, got it?”

“Of course!” Dipper piped up a little too quickly. He felt his ears get red again.

“I want to show Steven around!” Mabel tugged on his jacket, causing Steven to lose his balance for a second. She looked intensely into Steven’s eyes. _“Let me show you my ways.”_

“Uh,” Steven chuckled nervously. He wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Nope, not gonna happen,” Wendy said, pulling Steven out of Mabel’s grasp. “No offense Mabel, but you haven’t been here while Soos has been in charge. There’s a whole new way to do things now. I mean, I still don’t really do much here anyway, but that’s beside the point.”

Wendy began to lead Steven to the storage closet. “This will just be until Melody gets here. Once she’s able to cover you, you’re more than welcome to join us for training.”

As Steven followed Wendy, he found himself transfixed by all of the little knick-knacks and gags that were all around the gift shop. He couldn’t wait to actually start working.

“Here’s where we keep all the cleaning supplies,” Wendy explained as they reached the supply closet.

Steven peered in. There was a scraggly broom without a dustpan, a mop with a mophead that was at least five shades darker than it should have been, and a half empty bottle of generic cleaning solution. On top of the bottle was the most disgusting brown rag that Steven had ever seen.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Wendy smiled. “And yeah, that rag used to be white. I mean, that’s at least what Soos told me when _I_ was still new _.”_

Steven fought the urge to gag.

“There’s not so much to explain with this,” she shrugged as she closed the closet door. “We have to wipe down everything at the end of the day and sometimes if it gets _really_ gross during the day. Sweeping and mopping is pretty much the same—I usually get Dipper or Mabel to do it. Especially if a kid vomits in the gift shop. Anyway, the bottom line is just to make sure things stay clean. Standard stuff, you know?”

Steven nodded. Even though he was still trying to figure out the ins-and-outs of being a teenager, cleaning was one thing he had learned to do from a young age. After all, looking back on his childhood, he was kind of left alone for a while. Once he moved into the temple, his dad kind of did his own thing while the gems did theirs. He was fine with doing some daily chores. It was one way to pass the time. Besides, it wasn’t like he had a mom to clean up after him—

Steven felt his gem glow.

He clutched his stomach in an attempt to hide it from Wendy.

“Whoa, dude, are you all right?” Wendy asked, concerned.

“Yep,” Steven grimaced. “Totally fine. I think I’m just having difficulty process—I mean digesting breakfast.”

“I believe it. I’ve seen how Stan cooks,” Wendy shuddered. “Anyway, are you ready to continue?”

Steven nodded and let go of his gem. Deep breaths. He was okay. This was just a thought. He had survived his entire life without his mom. He had to accept that as truth and move on. _Breathe._

“Now I’ll show you how the cash register works,” Wendy began, walking back toward Dipper and Mabel. “Since this is your first job, I’m guessing you’ve never worked a cash register before.”

Steven thought briefly of his one day at the Big Donut.

“Pretty much.”

“Eh, no worries. It’s super easy. The register Mr. Pines bought is kind of a piece of junk, but Soos is so attached to anything Stan’s brought in that he refuses to buy another one.”

“Aw, that’s sweet!”

Wendy shook her head. “More like super weird.”

Dipper was sitting at the cash register as Mabel was checking out what was new in stock.

“Dipper, look at this!” she called out, holding up a crossbow. “Remember when Grunkle Ford let me shoot one of these in the house?”

“Put that back, Mabel.”

“Hey, mind if Steven and I use this?” Wendy asked Dipper.

“Sure! I mean, no, no I don’t mind,” Dipper was back to stumbling over his words.

Dipper wanted to slam his head on the counter in front of him. Why was he being so awkward? What happened to the Dipper at the end of last summer? Was he seriously crushing on Wendy all over again?

“Thanks, dude,” Wendy said, unaware of Dipper’s internal agony.

“Thanks Dipper!” Steven said cheerfully.

Dipper snapped out of his angst to give a small nod to Steven.

“Okay, Steven,” Wendy started. “Let’s give you a bit of a test. Hey, Mabel!”

“Yeah?” Mabel replied holding up a ball and chain weapon.

“When did we start getting such deadly additions to the gift shop?” Dipper wondered aloud.

“Mind if we ring up the merchandise you got there?”

“Sure!” Mabel rushed up to the cash register. “That means I’m keeping it though.”

“Please don’t,” Dipper sighed as he walked up the cash register with his sister.

“Okay, so how we find out the price is basically through this little sheet that Mr. Pines placed up,” Wendy said.

Steven looked at the sheet that Wendy was pointing at. All it said was “CHARGE $10 MORE THAN WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE PRICE TAG.” Steven noticed that there was a little “0” written in pencil next to the $10.

“I don’t really do that, but you always want to check the price tag,” Wendy clarified. She took the weapon from Mabel and looked on the handle for the price tag. “Go ahead and read that out to Mabel so she knows how much she owes.”

Steven looked at the tag and looked back to Mabel. “That’ll be $25, please.”

“Oh, so polite!” Mabel giggled. She reached out and handed Steven two twenty-dollar bills.

“Thank you, ma’am,” Steven grinned as he took the cash from Mabel.

“Okay, now all you have to do is give her the change back,” Wendy continued.

Steven put the $40 in the cash register and then stopped. What was $40 subtracted from $25 again? Or was it $25 subtracted from $40? No, that wouldn’t make any sense… would it?

When he stopped to think about it, Steven hadn’t actually _paid_ attention to any of the transactions he had made in his life up until his road trip. Even then, he hadn’t needed to worry about how much money he was getting back. Whenever he had dined out, either Connie determined the tip for him or he just handed the staff a twenty-dollar bill (Connie had explained to him numerous times that tipping twenty-percent didn’t actually mean leaving twenty dollars behind, but Steven figured that no one had ever been upset with him for doing that before, so it couldn’t be wrong). Now that he had to do math for the first time in a while, he was starting to fall in between the flaws in his logic.

“Steven, you do know how much you owe Mabel, right?” Wendy asked.

“S-sure I do,” Steven muttered.

It had to be at least ten dollars, right? Steven took out a ten-dollar bill and handed it to Mabel. Mabel gave him an encouraging smile, but the others still looked at him as though he were missing something. What could it be? He was never very good at math, even when Pearl went through that phase where she tried to teach him about human subjects. Being a galactic ambassador relied more on charisma than arithmetic, and even his charisma had been slipping as of late.

“Uh, Steven? You’re getting kind of sweaty,” Wendy teased.

He sighed. “I don’t know how much I owe her.”

She shot him a sympathetic smile. “That’s okay dude, you’ll get the hang of it after a while. It’s just 40 minus 25.”

Wendy reached over Steven to give Mabel a five-dollar bill. “It gets easier after a while. And if you really need to, we’re always here to help out.”

Steven returned her smile, relieved that she wasn’t too upset that he hadn’t been able to figure it out himself. “Thanks, Wendy.”

Dipper looked at him strangely. How did this teenager not know basic math? He figured he could just chalk up Steven’s aversion to counting as nerves, but along with all of the other weird things that Steven had been doing around the Shack, Dipper was more than skeptical.

“Let’s try again,” he piped up, handing Steven a little bobblehead of Stan that cost $10. As Dipper handed Steven a twenty-dollar bill, Steven eyed the money anxiously.

“Okay, Steven, you got this,” Wendy said encouragingly. “How much money are you going to give back to Dipper?”

Steven gulped. It had to be around what, five dollars? Steven handed Dipper a five-dollar bill. Seeing that Dipper was still waiting expectantly, Steven decided to add in three quarters and two dimes. That should work, right?

“Steven,” Dipper started, trying to mask his mounting suspicions about being a supernatural being. “Where did you go to school at again?”

Steven felt his cheeks grow hot. Oh, well. It was probably best that he come clean with it now.

“I didn’t… I’ve never been to school before.”

“So you were homeschooled?” Mabel asked. “That’s so cool!”

 _That could explain his weird interactions with people,_ Dipper thought, almost dejectedly. If all of Steven’s oddities could be summed up as him being homeschooled, then maybe there was no mystery here at all.

“Not exactly,” Steven placed his hand on the back of his neck.

“What? You got out of going to school for your entire life?” Wendy seemed almost impressed. “Dude, that is so cool. You have no idea how lucky you are!”

Dipper felt like he was going to explode. How does someone just _not_ go to school? Could this be a part of Mabel’s prince selkie theory? Was he part of a cult? How did his parents allow that? Does Steven even _have_ parents? So many questions were bouncing around in Dipper’s head that he felt like he had to scream.

“I mean, I _wish_ I had gone,” Steven insisted. “It’s just that… well….” He trailed off, careful to not reveal too much about his own life.

“Well _what?”_ Dipper pushed.

“Yeah, why did you never go to school?” Mabel held her ball and chain tightly as she looked to Steven for an answer.

Steven heaved a sigh. He was trying to limit how much he overshared about his life—even a portion of what he had been through could be… well… a _lot_ for normal people. Maybe there was a way he could limit how much he talked about his home life.

“Well, my mom… passed away when I was born. My dad didn’t have a whole lot of money while I was growing up, so my… I went to live with my… aunts. They weren’t really big on education and so I never went to school. Even when I got the chance to go to school once my dad became a millionaire, we both agreed that—”

“Wait, wait, _what?”_ Dipper interrupted.

“Your dad’s a millionaire?” Mabel repeated, entranced.

Wendy gaped, “No. Way.”

“Yeah, I guess that is the craziest part of this story, huh?” Steven laughed.

“How’d your dad become a millionaire?” Mabel leaned over the counter to get as close to Steven as she could. “Is he an actor? Is he famous?”

“Is he royalty, by chance?” Dipper added, trying to convey his tone as one of genuine curiosity. In his head, he was trying to follow behind the line of thought that Mabel had when she theorized that he was a prince of some underwater society. Some _selkie_ underwater society. The pieces were falling in place, all Dipper needed now was to connect everything together.

“No, no, he’s not any of those things,” Steven grinned. “I mean, he’s kind of famous, but not by name. Here,” he pulled up his phone. “Have you guys seen this?”

Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy all gathered around the phone as the commercial began to play.

_“From the moment the meat hits the flame / My stomach is growling without any shame….”_

“Hey, that’s the Pepe’s Burgers commercial!” Mabel said.

Wendy nodded. “Aw, yeah, I love that place!”

“My dad actually wrote that song,” Steven explained.

“He became a millionaire after making a song about hamburgers?” Mabel was starstruck. “Your dad is my _hero.”_

“It wasn’t about hamburgers at first, but yeah. Something like that.”

Dipper once more felt his theories deflate. Why was it that whenever he felt one step closer to uncovering the mystery surrounding Steven that he was able to explain it so effortlessly?

“Anyway,” Steven put his phone away. “After my dad became rich off of that song, we both agreed that I would keep… helping my aunts with their work and things, and that I would rather do that than go to school.”

“So what are you doing here, then?” Mabel asked. “Why aren’t you back home with your aunts?”

Steven remained silent for a few seconds, thinking to himself about how it would be best to phrase it. “Well, since I was never able to go to school, I was never really able to make friends with people my own age.”

That was true. The only friends he had that were around his own age was Connie and Onion. All of his other friends were thousands of years older than him.

“Besides, I would have had to leave sooner or later. I couldn’t be forty-years-old and still helping my aunts around the house!”

“Your backstory is intense, dude.”

Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and Wendy jumped. Standing in the doorway to the museum was Soos.

“Have you been there this whole time?” Dipper asked.

“Eh, only around the time Steven began talking about his epic life.”

Steven almost wanted to laugh at Soos. If he thought _that_ was impressive, Steven could only imagine how he’d handle being told that Steven was technically an intergalactic patriarch. Or that he is his own mom. Or that he was able to end a galactic dictatorship through the power of talking it out. Or that he stopped the end of the world multiple times, including one time when the world almost got infected with bio poison, which would have resulted in the deaths of every organic life form on Earth.

“Where are the tourists at?” Dipper asked.

“Those dudes are checking out the exhibits on their own. Anyway, how’s training coming along?” Soos walked over to the group of teenagers. “Also, has anyone seen Melody yet? She should have been here by now.”

Suddenly, as if on cue, the doors flung open. Melody rushed in, looking frazzled. “Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late. That took a lot longer than I was expecting.”

She walked up and hugged Soos. After kissing him on the cheek, she turned back to the teens. “How’s everything going along over here?”

“It’s going great,” Wendy grinned. “Actually, we were just about to show Steven how to use the golf cart.”

“The golf cart?” Steven repeated, excited by the mere mention of small vehicles.

“Yep. Now that Melody’s here, we can leave the gift shop to these goobers,” Wendy pointed to Mabel and Dipper.

“I want to show Steven how to drive the golf cart!” Mabel piped up, walking alongside him. “I can teach him how to swing a bat at enemies while driving!”

“Hey!” Dipper called. If he was left behind, how would he be able to keep a watch on Steven? “So do I! And I can definitely drive better than Mabel.”

“No way!”

Melody giggled. “You guys can go on ahead, I’ll be okay by myself. Besides, kind of makes sense considering I was late.”

Mabel and Dipper looked to Wendy expectantly.

“Fine by me,” Wendy shrugged. “Come on, nerds.”

Once Steven got outside, he noticed how busy it was in the parking lot. Cars full of families who were travelling from all over were fighting for parking spaces, looking forward to spending the next few hours looking at the oddities of Gravity Falls.

In an instant, Steven had a horrible feeling that this could be his fate if he was revealed to the Pines’. He could be trapped inside the Shack, only looking forward to tourists gawking at him in droves. He shuddered. He wasn’t sure if he could trust that Bill was telling the truth—that the Pines were tougher than they looked. That they could easily force him to be a sideshow for them. He only hoped that he would never have to find out.

Wendy’s voice brought Steven back to reality. “Here’s the Mystery Cart. We use it pretty much exclusively to do cool tricks and to commit various crimes.”

“What?”

“Yeah,” Mabel started excitedly. “I once drove it into a fence to save this mer—”

Dipper placed his hand over his sister’s mouth. “What she meant is that she once stole the cart in order to spend more time with her boyfriend.”

Mabel shot Dipper an irritated look but didn’t say anything.

“I usually use it to do donuts with my friends,” Wendy said. “Usually Stan used to get really mad about it, but Soos is more laid back.”

Wendy looked toward Steven and beamed. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you take us for a little joy ride before we head back to the Shack?”

Steven looked back at Wendy and shrugged. “Sure? I mean, if it’s okay with you two.”

Mabel started racing toward the cart. “I call shotgun!”

Dipper followed his sister reluctantly. He was unsure of whether he should trust Steven’s driving abilities. What if he took them out to the middle of nowhere and left them there? Would Stan or Ford be able to find them? Would anyone? He had spent the entirety of last summer trying to understand the forest and the creatures that lived there but to no avail. He still found himself getting lost even on the last few days of the summer.

He got seated right next to Wendy on the back of the car. He wanted to tell her his suspicions and see if she would be on his side, but she’d probably just think he was looking too far into it. Just like Mabel.

Dipper did his best to keep from groaning. He couldn’t believe that at the beginning of last summer, he seriously thought he would be better off exploring the secrets of Gravity Falls by himself. Without Mabel, he was missing the spontaneity that made their partnership so dynamic. He just wanted his sister to take Steven more seriously as a threat.

Steven, unaware of Dipper’s inner turmoil, got settled in the driver’s seat of the cart. The first thing he noticed was that his legs fit awkwardly inside. He felt like he was sitting in one of those extra small bumper cars that they would have for kids at Fun Land. While this would probably fit a twelve-year-old or even a thirteen-year-old Steven comfortably, sixteen-year-old Steven was not happy with these accommodations.

“Is everyone buckled up?” he asked.

Everyone in the car nodded. Steven put the key in the ignition to start up the Mystery Cart. The engine revved to life. Steven tested the gas pedal, moving it slightly. The cart sputtered forward, sending Mabel and Steven back into their seats.

Steven gave a nervous chuckle. “Okay, I promise I know how to drive. Where should I go, Wendy?”

Wendy snorted at Steven’s comment and shrugged. “It’s up to you, man. Wherever you want to go.”

Steven had his eyes on the forest. Slowly, he placed his foot on the gas once more. The cart started to pick up speed. Steven kept his foot pressed on the gas as they accelerated along the forest path.

As he felt the wind blow past him, Steven couldn’t help but grin. Mabel placed her arm out of the cart, savoring the feeling of the wind on her fingertips. Wendy leaned back, slightly touching Steven’s head. Dipper held on to the side of the cart, trying to dissuade his own anxiety about wherever Steven could be taking them.

“You’re a pro at this, dude!” Wendy looked back at Steven.

“Yeah, Steven! You da best!” Mabel yelled.

Dipper remained silent, trying to remember the layout of the forest in case Steven decided to strand them there.

“When do you think I should turn around?” Steven asked Wendy.

“Who cares, dude? You’re doing great right now!”

Steven thought to push the matter but decided against it. This was actually… nice. Even though he felt bad about skipping out on work, this is what being a teenager was about, right? Rebellion.

 _Rebellion._ Suddenly Steven saw Pink Diamond being shattered, being reformed as Rose Quartz.

He slammed on the brakes.

“Whoa!” Mabel nearly fell out of the car, being shot forward by Steven’s sudden stop.

“Is everything okay up there?” Wendy asked, looking back at Steven.

Steven couldn’t breathe. Wasn’t he getting better? Why was he thinking about this now, about _her_ now? Why couldn’t he just be normal? And _why_ was there a small person walking across the… path….

Steven couldn’t believe his eyes. Was this just another normal human thing he had missed out on by being around the gems? A little man in a large red cone hat with dark brown hair was walking across the path, staring right back at him. Wait a minute. The little guy wasn’t staring at Steven, but at… Mabel?

“Well, well, well,” the tiny person said, smiling. “What have we here?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This has literally been a WIP for three months guys I'm so sorry)
> 
> Wow, another weekly update! Isn't that incredible? Aren't I incredible for providing you all with speedy and regular updates? Wow super proud of myself for pulling that one off. /j
> 
> In all serious, the continued support on this fanfiction even as I hit some of my lowest points this summer has really gotten me through this. I won't bore you with the details, but I became really burnt out this summer and I lost a lot of the initial drive that I had at the start to keep this fanfiction going. I kept wanting to return back to it, but the inspiration to do so was never there. I just sat on my bed and rewatched old YouTube videos, TV series (speaking of which, She-Ra's finale and The Owl House is really getting me through this pandemic. If you haven't watched either, I would HIGHLY recommend. The Owl House really has Gravity Falls vibes and I'm really liking the idea of writing a confession between Amity and Luz. AAAAA), and playing Stardew Valley over and over again. Through it all though, I've had so many of you ask for updates and ask if I was continuing the fic. It feels good to finally upload a chapter after so long.
> 
> Speaking of the chapter, here are some actual chapter notes that aren't just about my life. This is the longest chapter I've made so far, which shocked me as I was writing because earlier this summer I was losing steam even writing the first few lines of dialogue. I think this is also the chapter that I struggled with writing the characters the most. Having the entire GF cast together with Steven and trying to have their interactions sound genuine and cohesive was definitely a challenge. However, I am really happy with the result! I hope you guys are too <3 I really liked the idea initially of repeating a gnome episode, but I figured it would be more fun seeing Steven interact with the others as he trains and also as he gives a bit of his own backstory. The balance between concerned Ford and observant Ford was also a bit difficult to write. He has a bit more control than Dipper does, so I feel like it was in character for him to lie in wait so to speak while Dipper was ready to rush in and start spying more on Steven. There's a fine line I'm walking between paranoid Ford and paranoid Dipper and how each displays their level of paranoia, but I think I'm going to have a better handle on it in later chapters.
> 
> To end all of this, I really just want to thank you all again for your continued support. I'm determined to keep this going even if it takes me twenty years. This is the most fun I've had just writing and it's really opened my eyes back up to the fanfic community. You guys are amazing <3


	7. Weird Meets Weirder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven learns more of the weirdness that surrounds Gravity Falls.

“I always knew you’d come back for me, Mabel!”

“Mabel, you know him?” Steven asked, still trying to process what exactly he was looking at.

Mabel rolled her eyes. “I wish I didn’t.”

Dipper turned to the front and groaned. “Ugh, it’s Jack. Or was it John?”

Mabel snapped her fingers. “Josh!”

“My name is Jeff!” the gnome shrieked. “How could you not remember me after I tried to marry your sister?”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Steven felt like his brain was imploding. “Not to be mean, Jeff, but what… what exactly _are_ you?”

Jeff turned to Steven, acknowledging him for the first time. “Are you serious? I’m a gnome, kid.”

“Gnomes exist?” Steven spoke the words sooner than he could process how rude it would sound aloud. He blushed and hoped that Jeff wouldn’t notice.

Unfortunately for Steven, Jeff noticed and gave him a glare. He turned back to Mabel and beamed, “Mabel, honey, I know we’ve had our ups and downs. I formed into a giant gnome monster to get you to marry me, you tried to pass me on to that wench Gideon, but you’ve come back for me! Now the wedding can commence!”

“Gross! No way!” Mabel spoke defiantly.

“Yeah, man, get over it! She’s never gonna be with you,” Dipper piped up.

“Wait, you tried to _marry_ Mabel?” After learning that gnomes existed, Steven found that that was the most shocking development to this story.

“What’s wrong with you, man? She’s, like, thirteen!” Wendy argued, shocked that this was the first time she heard about Mabel’s issue with Jeff.

“There’s nothing wrong with it! I got my honey a ring and everything,” Jeff said proudly. “Now, come on, Mabel, tell these guys you’re ready to be my queen for all of eternity!”

“Never!”

Jeff started walking closer to her. “Don’t be like that! Look, I’m not even mad about the whole Gideon thing anymore. You’ll have whatever you want, forever! Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

Mabel turned to Steven and grabbed his arm. “Steven, come on, let’s get out of here!”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Steven tried to snap out of the daze that he was in. He couldn’t actually believe that gnomes existed. More than that, he couldn’t believe that Mabel and Dipper had both _met_ gnomes before.

Steven began putting the Mystery Cart in reverse. “Uh, it was nice meeting you, Jeff!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Jeff called out, chasing the cart. “Mabel, you can’t leave me again!”

“If you take one more step towards the cart, I swear I will punt you over the horizon!” Wendy threatened, standing up on the cart.

Jeff yelped and ran back into the forest. Steven watched as he scampered away and felt more confused than ever.

“Uh, does everyone have their seatbelts on?”

As the group replied with multiple, “Yes’s,” Steven headed off on the trail back to the Shack.

After a moment or so of silence, Steven had to ask the question that was on his mind. “Do you… do you guys deal with stuff like that on a daily basis here? Is that normal?”

“Nah, it’s more like a weekly basis,” Mabel shrugged. “Last year we dealt with ghosts, monsters, dinosaurs, cursed evil objects, a mermaid—”

“Hahaha, oh Mabel, that’s hilarious!” Dipper interrupted, placing his hand over her mouth. “She just has an overactive imagination! Must be getting into sugar packets again. Gnomes were the only thing we had to deal with over the summer, nothing else.”

Wendy looked at Dipper, confused. “Dude, why are you trying to lie about it? Steven’s bound to see more crazy stuff while he hangs out with you guys. It’s only a matter of time.”

Mabel pushed Dipper’s hand away from her mouth. “Yeah, Steven’s not stupid. Why are you so weird about telling him the truth?”

Steven’s grip tightened on the wheel. Dipper was trying to hide the truth from him. Why? Was he really so untrustworthy? Steven tried to imagine the reverse. If some stranger had come into Beach City and stayed with him at the Temple for the summer, would he try to hide any of the aspects about gem life from them?

He realized that, in a sense, he already had. He had lied to the gems about his pink glow, about his doctor visits, about Jasper…. He sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, Steven could understand where Dipper was coming from. At a certain point after experiencing trauma—and Steven could see how dealing with the supernatural could be traumatic—you learn how to keep certain experiences to yourself.

As Steven processed the emotions that came with not having Dipper’s trust, Dipper could only think of one way to answer Mabel’s question. _Trust no one. Trust no one. Trust no one._

How many people could he trust when it really came down to it? At certain points last year, he couldn’t even trust his own family. He nearly erased Ford’s mind out of fear, and who could blame him? Ford was so secretive about his past, about his encounters with Bill. Could Dipper be blamed for trying to protect his family from Bill, from _Steven?_

Then again… keeping information from people was the reason why he wasn’t able to trust Ford. Dipper sighed, accepting that if Steven was going to be able to follow Dipper and Mabel this summer, then he was going to have to fill him in about the events that took place last year.

“It’s just… it’s weird, you know? Everything we went through… it’s so much—”

“I get it,” Steven said. “Trust me, despite how shocked I am, I’ve seen weirder. My aunts’ work is a bit… strange. This is just a different kind of weird. I can handle it.”

Dipper looked at Steven, trying to figure out if he could really trust him. Wendy and Mabel both looked to him encouragingly. Dipper looked back at Mabel and sighed. If Mabel could trust this guy… then the least he could do was give him the bare minimum.

“It all started when we found this journal in the woods. It had images and descriptions of the supernatural creatures that live in Gravity Falls. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was actually written by our Grunkle Ford.”

“Wait, how did you not know that Ford wrote it?” Steven asked.

“That’s… a long story,” Dipper answered.

“It’s okay, I’ll take this one!” Mabel said cheerfully. “Basically, our Grunkle Stan accidentally pushed Grunkle Ford into an interdimensional portal for thirty years and then we got him back halfway through the summer!”

“Oh yeah, I remember that,” Wendy said. “Soos called me about it and kept me up until _three in the morning.”_

“Interdimensional portal?” Steven had a difficult time believing it. “What do you mean? Like a warp—I mean, like a wormhole?”

“Kind of,” Dipper answered. “It pretty much kept Grunkle Ford trapped in between dimensions for thirty years.”

“Now he has a lot of cool weapons and interdimensional doohickeys!” Mabel added. “Including some weird dice for Dipper and Ford’s nerd game.”

“Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons is not a nerd game!” Dipper argued. “It is a skilled tactical roleplay and statistics game!”

“Blah, blah, blah, dweeb, dweeb, dweeb,” Mabel mocked as Wendy laughed.

Dipper groaned. “Anyway, after we found that journal last summer, Mabel, Stan, Soos, Wendy, and I all dealt with a lot of weird things, including Jeff back there.”

“We almost died from a pair of ghosts at the Dusk 2 Dawn,” Wendy smirked, remembering the Lamby Dance that Dipper had to perform to save them.

“I got to kiss a mermaid!” Mabel said excitedly. “I also kind of got involved with this weird puppeteer, but I try to forget about him.”

“Looking for the author of the journal took up most of our summer,” Dipper continued. “And once we found him, we had to deal with the fallout of the portal.”

“It created a rift in our dimension,” Mabel spoke softly, still remembering her decision to give the rift to Bill. “It ended up breaking, and….”

“Weirdmaggedon happened,” Wendy finished.

Steven felt chills go up his spine. He didn’t know what exactly Weirdmaggedon was, but it didn’t sound good.

“Weirdmaggedon?”

“The apocalypse,” Dipper answered quietly.

Steven listened intently. He had been driving slower than he was initially when he entered the woods, simply because he was determined to finish the story before they got to the Shack.

“It was contained to just Gravity Falls, but it was still a crazy week or so before we were able to fix everything,” Dipper finished. “In the process, the journals Grunkle Ford used to record all of his research were destroyed, otherwise I’d show you everything.”

“Whoa,” Steven spoke softly, awestruck. “That’s… a lot more than I thought it would be. You guys have been through so much. Thanks, Dipper.”

Dipper looked back to him. “For what?”

Steven grinned, turning his head toward Dipper while keeping his eyes on the road ahead of him. “For trusting me enough to tell me. It means a lot to me.”

Dipper stared at Steven for a moment before returning a small smile.

“Don’t mention it.”

Stanley was sitting in his favorite chair reading a copy of “Gold Chains for Old Men” magazine. He hadn’t gotten his hands on one of these babies in months and now he had a lot of issues to catch up on. He was halfway through the October edition when he heard muttering from the kitchen. He shifted in his seat, sure that he knew what it was. Whenever his geek brother started humming and hemming over something, that usually meant his brain was going into overtime. He had gotten used to it during the months they had spent on the boat, not to mention the seventeen years he had spent living with the guy.

As Stan tried to continue reading, Ford started clicking a pen over and over again. Combined with the constant muttering from his brother, Stan found it impossible to concentrate. Stanley groaned and got up from his chair to tell Ford off. As he got into the entryway of the kitchen, however, he noticed something was off.

Ford was pacing. Almost as though there were a track specifically on the floor just for him, Ford kept tracing his way back and forth and back and forth, clicking a pen and talking under his breath. Stanley knew he only did that when something was really bothering him. If it was a usual problem that needed solving, Ford would be sitting at the kitchen table with a notebook and a pen in one hand, scribbling away nonsense. The fact that he was out of a chair meant that Ford was doing some serious thinking.

Stan immediately thought of Steven. Was there something about this guy that was throwing Ford? Whatever it was, Stan didn’t want Ford to be stuck wondering about it forever.

“Hey, Poindexter, something wrong?” Stan asked from the entryway.

Ford didn’t respond, staring at the floor. Stan hated when he got like this—like he was in his own little world. Whatever his brother was worried about, it ended _now._

Stanley walked over and grabbed Ford lightly by the arm. “Ford, are you okay?”

Ford looked up at his brother, startled. “Oh, Stanley, it’s just you.”

“Uh, yeah, who else would it be?”

Ford didn’t answer.

“What’s going on? Is it the kid?”

Ford walked toward the table and sat down. “Steven? To an extent, perhaps. I can’t place him. There’s nothing that I know of that would have the potential to bring plants to life with the likeness of that person. Even if he was part of some underwater society, I don’t think that explains everything. There could be something said for alien lifeforms, but Steven looks like a perfectly normal young man. Not to say that there aren’t humanoid lifeforms out there, but they usually have some sort of tell—something like coloration or a certain set of abilities. But there’s nothing that proves his connection to the plants we saw other than his face. I’m afraid that my suspicions have been misplaced and that I inspired paranoia in Dipper. But… more than that.”

Ford sighed and looked at his brother. “I’m worried.”

Stan took a seat beside his brother at the table. “Hey, what are you worried about? The kid seems like a total wimp. I’m pretty sure I saw him laughing at that stupid talking fish that I put in the gift shop. Besides, I think that if we were able to take down Bill, then we don’t have to worry about anything else ever again, right?”

“Defeating him isn’t what I’m worried about,” Ford spoke. “I’m not even sure he’s a real threat. Stanley, I’m worried about Dipper.”

“Dipper?” Stan repeated. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Haven’t you noticed that he seems so much more downcast this summer? I haven’t known him for as long as you have, but I can tell there’s something bothering him.”

Stan shrugged. He didn’t want to admit it, but he had the exact same suspicions. “Hey, the kid just got here. I think he probably has bus lag or something.”

Yeah, bus lag. That sounded right.

“It’s not that,” Ford said. “When I was showing Steven his room, I… I think he had a panic attack.”

“A what now?”

“It’s a symptom of anxiety. I think that Dipper may have some sort of unaddressed trauma from last year. He won’t talk to me about it, and he refuses to talk to anyone else. I’m worried that if it goes unchecked, he’s only going to get worse and worse. I don’t know how to help him, Stan. I mean, we’ve been able to talk to each other on the boat, but Dipper doesn’t even have that. I’m worried because I… I don’t want to lose him. I don’t want him to deal with this alone. But I don’t know how to explain that to him.”

Ford stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. “I think you should talk to him, Stanley. You know I’m not good with people.”

Stan shook his head. _“You’re_ not good with people? Remember when I ran for mayor last year? If the kids hadn’t helped me, I would have been toast!”

“I’m not good with these kinds of things,” Ford repeated. “Dealing with emotions… I’ve never been good with that. Maybe I’m good at talking to others about academics or about the topics usually reserved for small talk but I can’t talk to Dipper about his mental health. You really helped me out with everything that happened last summer, and everything that happened the thirty years that I spent between dimensions. You’re a good listener, Stanley. I think that’s all that Dipper needs.”

Stan sighed. Talking to Ford was so much different than talking to anyone else—they were twins. They knew each other inside and out, even though they were separated for a few decades. Their feelings, their experiences—no one understood their true thoughts better than each other. Talking to Dipper would be… challenging.

“He looks up to you,” Stan said after a moment of silence. “The kid even wanted to be your apprentice. Are you sure it has to be me?”

Ford frowned. He knew that Stan still felt inferior to him when it came to the kids’ affections. Even though he couldn’t help with that, he could at least try to do something. For both his brother’s sakes and for Dipper’s.

He placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “He needs you, Stanley. Not me, _you.”_

Stan looked at his brother for a moment before giving him a small chuckle. “All right, all right, I’ll talk to him. I just hope you’re right, Poindexter.”

Ford smiled. “Yeah, me too.”

“Thanks for coming! Be sure to visit again soon!” Soos closed the door to the Shack as the tourists started toward their cars.

“You’re all done with your first day, man!” Wendy gave Steven a high-five. “How do you feel?”

“I feel great! Who knew that working could be so fun?”

Wendy giggled. “Good one, Steven.”

“What?”

“Hey dude, great job today!” Soos came over to praise Steven. “Now all that’s left to do is clean up.”

“I’m on it,” Wendy said as she leaned back against the counter with a magazine, clearly not moving any time soon. “Hey, Steven, can you ask Dipper to sweep up in here?”

“Sure,” Steven laughed.

He looked over and saw Dipper scribbling notes in his journal. Steven gave him a small wave and started to walk over.

“Hey Dipper! I’ll go ahead and clean the counters if you’ve got the floors.”

“What about everyone else?” Dipper asked, hiding his journal behind his back.

“Hey guys!” Mabel walked into the gift shop holding a huge bag of jumbo marshmallows. “Who wants to see me compete with Waddles in a marshmallow eating contest?”

Waddles snuffled up next to Mabel, his nose already covered in marshmallow fluff.

“Mabel, are you sure Waddle can eat those? Aren’t marshmallows made with like… animal parts?” Wendy asked.

“What? That can’t be right.”

Waddles snorted in agreement.

Wendy shrugged. “I think I read somewhere that pigs will eat anything, so I guess it’s fine.”

“Of course it is!” Mabel looked over at Steven and Dipper. “Hey, you dorks wanna watch?”

Steven chuckled. “You guys can go ahead without me. I’ll stay and clean up.”

“I’ll help him,” Dipper offered. There was no way he would let Steven stay inside the Shack all by himself.

Mabel shrugged. “Okay! Don’t wait up.”

As Wendy, Soos, and Melody followed Mabel out of the gift shop, Soos asked Melody, “Do you think she’ll let me enter the contest?”

Melody laughed. “I’m sure she wouldn’t have a problem with that. But if you win, that means I’ll have to challenge you myself!”

“You’re on!”

Once they left, Steven gave Dipper a smile. “Guess it’s just us, huh?”

Dipper nodded and attempted to smile back. “Yep.”

Outside, the two could hear Wendy and Melody cheering.

“Well,” Steven said, heading toward the supply closet. “I’ll go ahead and start wiping things down now.”

“Sounds good!” Dipper said, putting his journal away in his jacket. He got out the broom and dustpan and started sweeping.

The gift shop was entirely silent except for what was going on outside. Dipper could hear Steven humming, but didn’t make any attempt to engage him with conversation. He looked up every now and then, trying to figure him out. He was so nice to him after Dipper explained the events of last summer—the oddities of Gravity Falls. Dipper wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse.

He knew that there had to be something weird about Steven. He could just tell. The way that Steven interacted with everyone, the way that he didn’t really know how to deal with money, the way that he explained his backstory—there had to be more. But through it all… Dipper couldn’t be convinced that he was out to destroy the Shack or his family. At the end of the day, Steven just seemed like… like a person.

Maybe Mabel was right. Maybe he should just drop this.

“What were you drawing?”

Steven’s words brought Dipper out of his thoughts. “What?”

“I saw you drawing in that notebook,” Steven explained. “Can I ask what it was?”

Dipper tensed up. _Play dumb, play dumb!_

“What notebook?”

He nearly slapped his forehead.

“Uh… the one that you have in your vest?” Steven tilted his head. “You don’t have to tell me, I was just curious.”

Dipper thought for a moment and then sighed. “I just wanted to document the abnormalities in this town. Since Grunkle Ford’s journals were destroyed last year, I’ve been trying to catch up. Since we just ran into the gnomes again, I started to write down their entry.”

Dipper reached into his vest and flipped to the half-drawn gnome on the page after he began Steven’s entry. “See? I mean, my drawing is nothing like the originals, but--”

“You drew that?” Steven asked, his eyes full of stars. “That’s amazing!”

Dipper, though he felt unnerved by Steven’s starry pupils, couldn’t help but grin. “Thanks, man.”

Steven nodded. “Don’t mention it. Thanks for showing me!”

Dipper shut the journal carefully and put it back in his vest. “Hey, uh, what song were you humming earlier?”

Steven perked up. “The song? Eh, it was just a song I made up when I was a kid.”

“Whoa, you made a song? That’s incredible. The only person I know who makes their own music is… uh…” Dipper groaned. “Robbie. But his music is _awful.”_

Steven chuckled and put down the rag he was using the wipe down the register. “There’s no such thing as bad music!”

“You’d be surprised.”

Steven thought back to the Era 3 ball that he and Connie had attended and grimaced. Maybe Dipper was right. Though, that music was only really bad because of the memories it bore with it. They hadn’t meant to fuse, but it didn’t matter to the diamonds. They decided to poof the Crystal Gems, they decided to lock Stevonnie away….

Steven closed his eyes. He couldn’t think of that right now. Deep breaths. He was okay. He was here, with Dipper, in Gravity Falls. Everything was all right. It had happened, it had been terrible, he just needed to accept it—

“Steven?” Dipper’s voice called out to him. “Steven, are you okay?”

Steven opened his eyes and saw Dipper looking concerned.

He decided to tell him the truth—or at least, the most truth Steven could give. “I’m okay now. A lot of what I had to go through as a kid still sticks with me, and some things will remind me of it more than others. Thinking about bad music just reminded me of some memories I’d rather forget.”

Dipper frowned. What kind of memories could Steven have that would be triggered by bad music? More than that, what kind of childhood could Steven have had? Was his aunts’ work really so difficult? Steven had mentioned that he had to deal with weird things while helping them, but what kind of weird things could have this big of an impact on his life?

Dipper’s mind immediately wandered toward Bill and he suddenly understood. The events of last summer were bad enough—he couldn’t imagine spending his entire life with the supernatural. Though Dipper knew that there was nothing that Steven could have seen that would have been anywhere near Bill, he could understand that there was still plenty of things that could have traumatized Steven.

“I’m getting help though. I have a therapist online and I’m meeting with her in a few days,” Steven explained.

Dipper nodded, unsure of how to respond. “I’m… sorry I brought those memories up.”

“It’s not your fault!” Steven shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.”

Dipper stayed silent for a moment, then coughed. “Uh, what was the name of the song you were humming?”

Steven’s face immediately lit up. “I wrote it a couple of years ago for one of… one of my friends. She had recently had a huge change in her life, and she was trying to adjust to it. I call it ‘Peace and Love.’”

Steven omitted ‘on the Planet Earth’ from the title, so Dipper wouldn’t think that he was crazy.

Dipper almost laughed. If this was what Steven wrote about, then maybe he wasn’t actually any threat at all.

Even though he felt ridiculous, Dipper felt obligated to show Steven the same amount of appreciation that he had shown his drawings. “’Peace and Love,’ huh? Could you sing it for me while I sweep?”

Steven gave a wide grin. “Of course I could. It’d be better with my ukulele though.”

“You play ukulele?”

“I used to, at least. I gave it to my aunt when I left as a goodbye gift.”

Steven took in a deep breath and began to sing.

_“Life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the—”_

Mabel burst in through the door, startling Steven and Dipper. “Soos won! Now he and Melody are facing off against each other!”

She grabbed her brother by the arm and started dragging him to the door. “Come _on,_ Dipper, we can’t miss this!”

“Mabel, we were actually—”

“It’s Soos and Melody?” Steven piped up, headed for the door. “I’ve gotta see this!”

Dipper watched as Steven rushed out the door and sighed. So much for trying to get to know him better.

“So,” Mabel smirked, letting go of her brother. “I see you and Steven are getting along.”

Dipper groaned. “This doesn’t mean that I’m not still observing him.”

“Admit it! You’re starting to like him!”

“No way! Mabel, there’s something weird about him, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it!”

“Okay,” Mabel shrugged. “But when you finally admit that you like him, just know that I’ll have the biggest ‘I told you so’ ready for you.”

Dipper shoved his sister lightly. “Whatever, I’m going out to watch Soos and Melody.”

Mabel raced Dipper toward the door. “By the way, I bet that if Soos wins, then we get to have Grenda and Candy over for a karaoke night!”

Dipper felt his blood grow cold. Not only did karaoke remind him of the zombie attack, but just the idea of Grenda, Candy, and Mabel singing 80s pop music together was enough to give him a migraine.

“Wait up, Mabel! That’s not fair!”

“Too late, Grunkle Stan already agreed to it!”

_“Mabel!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My drive to write is back, baby. I'm so excited to share this chapter with you guys. This is much more lighthearted and gives Dipper and Steven some chances to bond with each other. Also, writing the interaction between Stan and Ford was a ton of fun. Being able to kind of explore the complicated feelings that these twins have for each other is always super great. We'll get some Dipper and Stan interaction soon, I promise. 
> 
> At this point, the chronology of this fanfic has been kind of on a day-to-day basis, with Steven having spent the first day travelling to Gravity Falls, the second day at the welcoming party, and the third day training with Wendy, Mabel, and Dipper. Next week is going to be the first week jump I'm doing, but I promise the action of this is going to start moving a lot faster. I'm planning on Chapters 19 and 20 to be kind of the climax of the first arc, so there is going to be an overarching plot that this will be following.
> 
> As for myself, I feel a lot better. I feel like I'm finally coming out of this fog that I've been in all summer. Sure, school is crazy, and I have a lot of work going on, but I'm so much happier here than I was back home over the summer. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe! You guys are incredible and I feel so grateful to have such an amazing audience to share my story with <3


	8. Me With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Connie arrives in Gravity Falls, Mabel calls into question her experiences with love and her feelings about Steven. Dipper finds himself facing his own conflicted feelings about Steven. Is there really anything strange with him? Is he just a regular teenager? The more Dipper asks questions, the more things don't add up.

A week had passed by since Steven had made it to Gravity Falls and began his employment at the Mystery Shack. Not only had he gotten to know his coworkers better, but he had been able to explore more of Gravity Falls with Mabel and Dipper. After the gnome incident, Steven had wanted to see more. Mabel had been eager to show Steven the enchanted part of the woods, during which he had been amazed by the fairies. He learned of the unicorn incident of last year during this excursion. Though he was definitely shocked by the existence of unicorns, he was more perplexed by how mean they were to Mabel.

Dipper, despite his hesitation, had shown Steven the Gremloblin, which nearly made Steven reveal his shield as the creature charged toward them. Thankfully, he hadn’t even needed his gem. Dipper, using a mirror he had packed inside his vest, showed the Gremloblin its reflection. In tears, the monster scrambled away.

“As you can see, his weakness is first and foremost _mirrors,”_ Dipper explained, remembering bitterly how the last journal included the bit about water before any actual weaknesses. “If you look into the Gremloblin’s eyes, it will show your deepest fears. Therefore, if you hold a mirror before the creature, then it will see its own worst fears!”

“That’s genius!” Steven praised.

During his time off, Steven had taken interest in Ford’s scientific studies. Though Steven wasn’t nearly as well-read as Ford was, he appreciated that Ford took the time to explain his work to Steven in terms he could understand. He had wanted desperately to ask about his time spent between dimensions, but he thought that would be rude to bring up. He thought of it kind of like if someone asked him how it felt being corrupted; he didn’t want to put anyone through the same pain. So, instead, Steven decided to ask about projects he was working on now. He even was able to see some pages of Ford’s new journal. He could get a vision of what the original three journals must have looked like and wished he had been able to see them.

He spent his nights developing a fondness for Gravity Falls public access television. Stan had showed him this show called “Ducktective” that was quickly becoming Steven’s new favorite.

“I love animals in human situations!” Steven exclaimed happily after seeing the first few episodes with Grunkle Stan.

“I hear they’re coming out with a remake,” Stan grumbled. “Stupid TV execs. If it’s even slightly different from the original I’m going to burn the TV station to the ground!”

Steven gave a nervous laugh. “You’re joking, right?”

Stan rubbed his nose. “Sure, kid.”

The most difficult part of his week was probably his therapy appointment. He had a lot to explain and his therapist wasn’t exactly thrilled by his impulsive decision to lodge with the Pines family. Staying in one place wasn’t exactly recommended, but after giving more details about his week, he had been given somewhat of a pass. Steven also discussed things that had triggered painful memories in the past week. Teenage rebellion, the topic of bad music, Pearl sending him into space, his mom, and… his corruption.

Steven spoke in a low voice when he mentioned this. He was worried that if he spoke too loudly, then he would have to answer awkward questions as soon as he walked out of his room. He considered taking his therapy session in the car, but he figured that would look too suspicious.

All that being said, Steven was proud of his progress with not only the Pines’ but with himself this week. He felt like he was really starting to fit in. More than that, he was actually starting to feel… normal. He didn’t have to bend under the pressure of being the savior of the universe as long as he stayed in the Shack. Here, he could just be… Steven. That was all he could have asked for.

On the morning that marked his first week at the Shack, Steven woke up on his couch. He rolled over and discovered that his phone had two missed messages from Connie. Groggily, Steven typed in his passcode and read the messages to himself.

The first one said, “Good morning, cutie pie! I hope you slept well <3”

The second, “I’ll be getting into town around 2 with Lion. I hope that’s ok! I can’t wait to see you!”

Steven grinned. He had almost forgotten that Connie was coming to see him. This was so exciting! He couldn’t wait to introduce everyone to her. He was sure that they were going to love her.

Steven burst out of his door a few moments later, dressed and ready for the day. As it was a special occasion, Steven decided to wear his signature star shirt to work under his jacket. He figured that Connie would appreciate the classics.

As he walked into the kitchen, Mabel immediately caught on to his change in attire. “Hey, Steven, why aren’t you wearing your Mystery Shack t-shirt? Is everything okay?”

Steven grinned and nodded. “Things are better than okay! Connie’s going to be here in just a few hours!”

“Connie? Who’s that?”

“Yeah,” Dipper took a bite of his cereal and scrutinized Steven. “How come we’ve never heard of her before?”

Steven found himself blushing. Why _hadn’t_ he mentioned Connie? It seemed like something that he should have mentioned, but it must have skipped his mind. He felt like such a bad boyfriend. How could he forget to gush about Connie for an entire week? To be fair, there was a lot going on, but was that really an excuse?

He cleared his throat. “Well, uh, you see—”

“Eh, lay off,” Stan interrupted, walking into the kitchen. “A man’s business is his own business. If Steven doesn’t want to talk about it, then he doesn’t have to.”

Steven shot Stan a smile, grateful. “Thanks, Stan, but it’s okay. Connie is my girlfriend. She’s visiting later this afternoon.”

Stan spit out some of his coffee. “Your _girlfriend?_ You have a _girlfriend?”_

“…Yes?”

Stan wiped his mouth with his shirt and looked up at Steven, trying to tell if he was lying. He then shrugged. “Eh, if Soos can get a girlfriend, then I guess anyone can.”

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel said crossly.

“What?”

Steven laughed nervously, not entirely sure how he should take Stan’s comment. “Uh, right. I’m gonna go ahead and start preparing to open. I’ll let you know when she gets here! She’s super excited to meet you guys, I’ve been telling her all about you!”

As Steven left the room to go to the gift shop, Mabel turned to Dipper and whispered, “Hey, on a scale from one-to-ten, how serious do you think Steven and Connie are?”

“What? Mabel, are you seriously trying to get with someone who has a girlfriend?”

“Sh!” Mabel covered his mouth with her hand. “I can’t control who I have crushes on! Steven’s so nice to me, and he likes all the same stuff I do. It’s nice being able to have makeover sessions with a boy.”

“He lets you put makeup on him?”

“Yes!” Mabel threw her hands up in the air. “Can’t you see that we’re perfect for each other?”

“Mabel, he’s like, way too old for you. Remember what happened last summer between me and Wendy?”

“Listen to your brother, sweetie,” Stan said absentmindedly as he began to open a newspaper.

Mabel ignored Stan and continued her discussion with Dipper. “Look, I didn’t judge when you had that crazy crush. Why can’t you just support me in this, bro?”

Dipper felt his ears redden and he looked down toward his cereal. “Well, maybe you _shouldn’t_ have supported me. I have the benefit of experience, Mabel. Maybe you should just take my advice.”

Mabel sighed and picked at her bowl of cereal. “You don’t get it, Dipper. I just wish I could have one summer romance that wasn’t a total bust. I mean, Grenda found true love last summer. I just want the same.”

“Aw, Mabel,” Dipper looked at his sister with sympathy. “You’ll find someone. Your soulmate has to be out there somewhere, right?”

“Sorry, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop,” Ford popped into the kitchen from the hallway, holding a glass bottle of mysterious, iridescent liquid. “Are we talking about how soulmates are statistically improbable and that the existence of one is just a lie that people tell themselves to make them feel better about being alone forever?”

Stan laughed. “Ha! Yeah, love is terrible!”

Mabel groaned and placed her head on the table.

“What? Grunkle Ford, come on,” Dipper appealed to Ford. “There has to be someway to determine someone’s soulmate. Like, maybe some way to look at a person and just _know._ ”

“Yeah!” Mabel perked up. “Come on, Grunkle Ford, I met a _Love God_ last summer! I messed with people’s feelings! There has to be some way to get that love potion stuff scientifically.”

“I’m sorry, but there’s no way that would ever be possible,” Ford shrugged. “Not to mention how irresponsible that would be. That’s why I only have one such device.”

“Wait, Grunkle Ford, you actually _made_ something like a love potion?” Dipper asked in disbelief.

“Not exactly. They were more like glasses designed to look at someone and see the nature of any relationship you’d have with them—whether you’d grow old together, whether you’d have a messy break up, have lots of kids and then get divorced—all kinds of possibilities.”

Mabel stood up suddenly, knocking over her chair. “Can I have it?”

“No, no, it would be far too irresponsible. The last time I tried them on, I went half-crazy not being able to find my perfect match,” Ford sighed and gave a small smile. “In either case, the pursuit of science doesn’t leave much room for companionship!”

“Grunkle Ford, I will literally do _anything_ to get my hands on those love glasses. Please please please please _please!”_

Grunkle Ford shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mabel, it would be far too dangerous. I learned my mistakes from last time when I gave Dipper that tie to control Stanley.”

“Yeah,” Stan piped up, visibly annoyed. “I’d prefer that you guys _not_ get mixed up in Ford’s inventions again.”

“But Grunkle Ford—”

“Now, Mabel,” Ford continued. “There’s more to life than finding out your soulmate. Besides, it’s not like finding someone to spend the rest of your life with is all that important. Look at me and Stan! We’ve traveled the world with no one to hold us back, and we’re as happy as it gets!”

Mabel looked between her Grunkles. Stan was picking at something on his face, looking miserably at his paper. Ford had bags under his eyes and, even though he was smiling, it looked… almost unnatural, like he was faking it. Mabel groaned and slid back into her chair.

“Uh,” Ford looked away from his niece, trying not to cave and just hand her the device outright. “Don’t worry, Mabel. Even without a soulmate, you’ll find love eventually.”

“Or you won’t,” Stan shrugged. “That’s an option too.”

“Stanley!”

“What? We’re both seventy and we haven’t found anyone to settle down with.”

“I have reasons for that! Besides, I just said we were better off for it.”

“Ha, sure. And what reasons do you have for being alone, Poindexter?”

“I was trapped between dimensions for thirty years! Why haven’t _you_ found anyone?”

“Hey, I’ve been married _and_ divorced once!”

As the two continued with their bickering, Dipper looked down at Mabel. “Hey, don’t listen to them. You’re a really great person! Any guy would be lucky to have you.”

Mabel sighed and sat up. “Yeah, except for Mermando and Gabe. And now Steven.”

Dipper thought for a moment then grabbed Mabel’s arm. “Come on, let’s go see what Steven’s up to.”

Mabel nodded her head and followed her brother into the gift shop. Maybe spending time with Steven would cheer her up.

They made their way into the gift shop to find Soos and Steven talking about Connie.

“…she’s planning on attending college at Jayhawk University, and she’s really excited about it. She still hasn’t narrowed down what she wants to study yet, but she’s thinking that she wants to do something with polisci.”

“That’s so cool! You seem like you’re really happy with her, dude.”

“I am,” Steven blushed. “I’ve never met anyone as incredible as Connie. I’m really just glad to be around her.”

Dipper felt Mabel slacken beside him. He turned to face her and watched as she walked away.

“Aw, man,” he muttered under his breath.

He turned to follow her as Steven called out to him. “Hey, Dipper! I was just telling Soos more about Connie.”

“Dude, this girl sounds like a _beast,”_ Soos added. “Dipper, did you know that Connie knows how to sword fight? She’s like a real-life magical girl!”

“Sword fight?”

Dipper’s interest was piqued. Why did Connie need to know how to handle a sword? Was she Steven’s protector? Some sort of bodyguard? Did she need to protect Steven when he was on land? Did Steven have powerful enemies that he needed protection against? Were these enemies coming after him? Would they—wait, wait, no. Dipper couldn’t be dragged into conspiracy theories at a time like this. Mabel just left without even saying anything to him! He should go follow her, make sure that she’s all right, help her with—

“Yo, Steven, there’s no way this lion in that picture is real.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s kind of Connie’s pet. His name is Lion.”

“Wait, what?” Dipper rushed over to peek at whatever Steven was showing Soos. On his phone screen there was a picture of a girl with short black hair, dark brown eyes, brown skin, and a large nose smiling on top of a bright pink lion. Dipper felt his jaw drop.

“How is she riding that lion? Isn’t that dangerous?”

Steven laughed. “Lion is actually very polite. I trained him myself.”

“You _trained_ Connie’s pet lion?”

“Well, technically she was my mom’s lion first….”

While Soos and Dipper continued to interrogate Steven in the gift shop about Lion, Mabel found her way into Grunkle Ford’s room. Since Steven had moved into what was technically supposed to be his room, Ford settled within the parlor in which they had defeated the wax figurines in last summer. Though it had been nothing but an air mattress and some assorted blankets at the beginning of the week, there was already an abundance of lab equipment shoved within the room. In fact, it was hard finding anywhere to step without bumping into a test vial or stacks of papers that Ford had lying around.

“Okay,” Mabel said to herself as she walked carefully around his room. “I’m only here for the love glasses and that’s it. I’m sure Grunkle Ford won’t mind. Besides, he won’t even notice it’s gone! Probably.”

She started looking through his other experiments—his magnet gun, the lightbulbs he had invented that would last for a thousand years, and some sort of weird ray gun with a broken light bulb at the top. Mabel tossed the last one on the ground haphazardly. Whatever it was, it was beyond broken by now.

“Come on, Mabel, concentrate. If I were a pair of love glasses, where would I be….”

Mabel looked around the room, trying to discern where Ford would have hidden a pair of glasses that would determine where a good hiding spot would be for a so-called “irresponsible experiment.” There was always the chance that it could be down in the basement, but Mabel didn’t want to have to go out and try and sneak past Dipper, Soos, and… well, Steven. Besides, if Dipper saw her trying to get to Ford’s study, he would know what was going on immediately.

She was about to give up and started to plan out how exactly she would be able to sneak into Ford’s study without Ford or Dipper noticing when she finally saw it. There was a framed portrait of Nikola Tesla on top of a dresser by Ford’s bed with a bright pink pair of cat-eye sunglasses over his face.

“Love glasses,” Mabel spoke softly, awestruck.

She made her way over to the framed picture and grabbed the neon pink sunglasses. Wow, a genius inventor _and_ someone with great taste in fashion! Ford could do no wrong.

“Please, _please_ let me find my soulmate,” Mabel wished to herself.

She slinked out of Ford’s room and into the gift shop. Already, the first sets of tourists were coming in and milling about. Mabel looked for Steven, but it seemed that he and Dipper were out at the moment. Wendy was manning the cash register while Melody was helping customers with their shopping experience.

“Well, might as well try them out first,” Mabel whispered to herself. “But who should I try them on….”

Mabel looked around the gift shop and found a boy about her age. He had short, dark hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a cotton, light blue button-up shirt, with khaki shorts. In his hands was a fossil that Stan had snagged from when Waddles was abducted by the pterodactyl. She immediately felt a connection and smiled widely. _Perfect._

As the young man perused the selection of shirts laid out in the gift shop, Mabel hid in the middle of the circular rack.

“All right, heart, prepare to meet your match,” Mabel said optimistically.

She placed the glasses over her eyes and looked at the boy. In an instant, the Mystery Shack crumbled around her. Mabel looked around in the darkness that was left behind and felt petrified. Was… was this what was supposed to happen? Did this mean that their future held nothing? Or were these glasses broken and she was just stranded in this strange, dark space?

Just as Mabel was about to take off the love glasses to see if she could get back to the Mystery Shack that way, there was a small bit of light coming through in the shape of a rectangle.

“Hello?” Mabel called out to the light. “Can anyone hear me? Hello? Dipper?”

Suddenly, the light started moving toward Mabel. Mabel started to scream, unsure of what was going to happen. The light engulfed her, and she blinked in the startling brightness.

As her eyes adjusted, she noticed that she wasn’t in the Mystery Shack at all. She was… in her room in Piedmont?

“I just don’t see why you can’t just travel up to Portland. It’s only a couple of hours.”

Mabel was seated on her bed, talking to the guy that she had seen in the Mystery Shack through her computer. What was going on?

“It’s not like I can just hop on a bus whenever I want to come and see you,” Mabel found herself saying. “Besides, I like what we have right now. Isn’t this enough?”

The guy from the Shack just rolled his eyes. “What, do you not want to see me?”

“Of course, I want to see you,” Mabel felt her eyes filling up with tears.

Mabel reached up to wipe the tears away when she realized she was still wearing the pink-tinted glasses. What… what was happening?

“Then why do you keep coming up with excuses? This isn’t the same Mabel that I spent the summer with.”

“I… I….”

Mabel found that she couldn’t respond. Suddenly, the boy hung up the call, and Mabel found herself stranded in darkness once more as the room crumbled beneath her. In front of her, all Mabel could see were the words “CALL ENDED” in red letters, blinking.

Mabel took off the shades frantically, hoping to escape wherever she had wound up with those on. In an instant, she was back in the Mystery Shack, nearly face-to-face with the boy who had just broken up with her.

She yelped reflexively and crashed backwards into the circular rack she was hidden within.

“Whoa, cool little hideaway you got there!” he smiled charmingly at her.

Mabel smiled nervously and moved outside of the rack. “Haha, yeah….”

The boy walked up to her and gave her a nervous grin. “Uh, my name’s Travis. What’s yours?”

Mabel felt her skin grow clammy. “CALL ENDED.”

“I… I gotta go!” Mabel made her way toward the “Employees Only” exit into the living room. “Sorry!”

Mabel closed the door behind her and heaved a sigh of relief. “Well, _that_ worked. Geez, I can tell what Ford meant by--”

Suddenly, she heard Steven’s voice in the gift shop.

“…then Connie and I skated for the rest of the night together. After that, we got to hang out with a few of her friends. They’re really nice! I should probably ask Connie how they’re doing, now that I think about it.”

Mabel groaned and put her hands over her ears. Of course, she shouldn’t have gotten this crush on Steven. Of course, she shouldn’t have been surprised that Steven had a girlfriend. But Steven was the only guy who she had met that still wanted to do feminine stuff with her without being super creepy! Even if he was a bit older than her, they were still teenagers, weren’t they? Doesn’t that make them somewhat compatible?

Why did everyone she had feelings for leave her? Why did no one else reciprocate her love back to her? Was it… her? All she realized from last summer was that no one she had fallen for had ever loved her back in the same way. The only one who had was Gideon, and he had tried to kill her and Dipper multiple times! Maybe the issue was… her.

The only time she felt like she was loved and wanted by the men in her life was when… was when she was in Mabeland. Was she a terrible person for thinking that? Of course she was. It was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Why did she want to go back to a world that Bill created just in order to feel loved by her crushes again? Ugh, it was so _stupid!_ It was horrible, and she was horrible for thinking that, and—

“Hey,” Dipper was kneeling beside her. “Steven and I were looking for you. You just left without saying anything. Is everything okay? I know the whole Connie thing is upsetting you, but you know you can talk to me about it, right? …Mabel?”

Mabel looked up at her brother, tears lining her eyes.

“Oh boy, Mabel, is this upsetting you that much? Look, you don’t _have_ to meet her. I can make up some excuse and—”

“No,” Mabel sniffled, interrupting her brother. “No, it’s not that. Dipper, do you think I’m… do you think….”

Dipper dropped down to sit next to his sister. “Do I think you’re what?”

Mabel stifled a small cry.

“Do you really think I’ll find someone who loves me?”

Dipper was taken aback by that question. “Mabel, of course you’ll find someone who loves you. No offense, but all of the guys who you’d fallen for in the past summer were all jerks. Mermando was weird, Gabe was weird, Norman was a bunch of _gnomes,_ and don’t even get me started on _Gideon._ Wait, does Gideon even count?”

Mabel gave a small laugh, shaking her head. “Of course, he doesn’t count, are you crazy?”

Dipper chuckled. “Look, my point is, teenage guys are stupid. Take it from your teenage guy brother. When you get older, you’re gonna find someone that’s going to make the wait worth it. I promise.”

Mabel sniffled and smiled at her brother. “Thanks, Dipper.”

“Don’t mention it. By the way, you better get those glasses back to Ford’s room before he notices they’re gone.”

Mabel looked down at the glasses in her lap and sighed. “You won’t tell him, will you?”

Dipper shook his head, stood up, and offered his hand to Mabel. “Awkward sibling hug?”

Mabel wiped her nose on the sleeve of her sweater and grabbed Dipper’s hand. Standing up, she opened up her arms.

“Awkward sibling hug.”

They embraced for a few seconds, before saying the obligatory “PAT, PAT.”

Mabel held out the glasses in front of her and sighed. “Ugh, these things made me see some _weird_ stuff. I can see what Ford meant by going half-crazy.”

“Who’d you try them on?” Dipper asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Mabel opened the door a crack and pointed out Travis. “Do you see—”

Before Mabel could say anymore, there was screaming from outside. Tourists started filing into the Mystery Shack, looking terrified. Wendy and Melody looked concerned, trying to figure out what was going on. Nearby, Steven looked… excited?

“That must be her!” he said, running out of the door.

“Wait, what?” Wendy called out, looking after him. “What are you talking about? Steven, don’t go out there!”

“Do you think it’s Connie?” Mabel asked.

Dipper nodded. “Probably. Steven said she’d be arriving on a lion. That’s probably why people are so freaked out.”

“He said _what?”_

“Oh, yeah, I forgot you weren’t here when he was telling us all of that.”

Dipper noticed Mabel’s face fell again.

“Hey, you don’t have to go out there with us. Like I said, I can come up with some excuse, and—”

“No, it’s okay,” Mabel took in a deep breath. “I want to meet her. I’m sure she’s really nice, and Steven seems to really like her, and I have to trust that whoever Steven likes is someone that’s worth meeting.”

Dipper noted the fear that came with Mabel trusting Steven, but he couldn’t help but feel that she had a point. Steven _had_ made this summer more interesting since he had come to live with them. If nothing else, he at least had to trust that he could get more information about Steven from Connie.

“All right, but I’ll be there for you if you want to bail.”

“Thanks, Dip.”

Mabel and Dipper walked out past the scared customers. Melody stopped them right before they reached the door.

“Hey, don’t go out there! There’s some kind of wild animal on the loose and I don’t want you kids getting hurt.”

“It’s okay,” Dipper winked at Mabel. “I think we know what it is.”

Melody looked from Dipper to Mabel, exhausted. “Guys, this is a _wild animal._ At the very least, bring a golf club with you or something.”

“I’m on it,” Wendy offered, holding up a bat. “Don’t worry, I got plenty of practice defending these guys last year.”

Melody sighed and then smiled, shaking her head. “Just be careful, okay? You guys don’t have the best track record when it comes to self-preservation.”

“Wendy, where’d you get a bat from?” Dipper asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” she smirked. “Let’s go fight this bear or lion or whatever!”

Mabel looked at Dipper, expecting him to at least clear up some of this on her end. Dipper just shrugged and walked out the door into the wilderness. Mabel followed, clutching the cat-eyeglasses. _Just in case._

The blinding light hit her first. She placed her hand over her eyes in order to adjust. She thought maybe it was taking a while for her eyes to adjust to the outdoor light, as she could have sworn that there was a young woman riding a pink lion with a sword on her back.

“Hey, guys!” Steven called out to them, beaming. “This is Connie!”

The pink beast roared, indicating his irritation.

“And Lion!” Steven chuckled, petting Lion’s mane.

“Hello!” Connie waved. “My name is Connie Maheswaren. It’s so good to finally meet all of you!”

She slid off of Lion and landed neatly on the ground. Steven, unable to contain his excitement, picked her up and kissed her. Connie broke away, unable to contain her laughter.

"I missed you too!" she buried her face in Steven's shoulder, embracing him.

Dipper tensed, looking to a reaction from Mabel. Shockingly enough, though, Mabel was just… blushing?

“Hey, is everything okay?” he whispered, nudging Mabel.

“Dipper, is it weird that I think that Connie is… really pretty?”

“I mean, I think she’s really pretty too, what’s your point?”

“No, I mean… _really_ pretty.”

“I’m right there with you,” Wendy whispered, holding her bat down by her waist. Dipper noticed that she was blushing too.

“Aw, Mabel,” Dipper grinned, elbowing his sister. “Do you have another crush on someone?”

Mabel buried her face in her hands. “Ugh, I thought it was difficult enough when I just liked _boys.”_

Wendy snorted. “Welcome to the club.”

Connie walked up to Wendy, Mabel, and Dipper. Steven walked up with her, holding her hand tightly. “Steven has told me all about you guys! Wendy, Steven told me that you would be interested in taking a look at my sword.”

She unsheathed her blade and held it out in front of Wendy. Wendy looked at it admiringly.

“Yes. Yes I am interested.”

“Mabel,” Connie continued. “I heard that you have another cute pink pet. I guess that makes us pet twins, huh?”

Mabel’s eyes widened as she realized Connie was right—she _did_ have another pink pet.

“I’m gonna go bring out Waddles!”

As Mabel rushed inside, Connie turned to face Dipper. “And Steven said you had a bunch of questions you wanted to ask me?”

Dipper cleared his throat. “Not a bunch, just some basic stuff like, how did you learn to sword fight, and why did you learn to sword fight, and who made your sword, and how does Lion teleport you places, and—”

Connie laughed. “You can ask me all the questions you want once Mabel comes back out. I’m sure that she’d like some of her own questions answered.”

“Uh, yeah! Yeah, of course! Actually, would it be okay if I grab my Grunkle Ford?”

Connie turned to Steven inquiringly. “That’s the scientist, right?”

Steven nodded.

“Then yes, of course!”

Dipper rushed into the house, shouting “Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford!”

After a moment, Wendy, Mabel, Waddles, Dipper, Grunkle Ford, and a disheveled Grunkle Stan--who had been dragged into coming outside after Mabel found Waddles chewing up his slippers--were standing in front of Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaren, and a bright pink lion.

“I understand nothing about this,” Stan admitted.

“I agree, this is entirely unprecedented,” Ford stated, mind racing. If he wasn’t already suspicious of Steven….

“Young lady, may I ask where you got this lion from?”

“It used to be Steven’s,” Connie answered.

“I got it out in the desert,” he shrugged.

“The desert?” Where would Steven have gone where there was a desert? Well, he did arrive from Beach City, but that was in the northeastern part of the country. There weren’t typically any deserts known for harboring animals like lions in that region. Wait, which desert was Steven even _talking_ about?

“My aunts took me on a trip there once,” Steven covered. “Work related.”

“Your… aunts?” Connie looked at Steven inquisitively.

Though it was subtle, Dipper noticed Connie’s confusion. Does Connie know less about Steven than he does? Considering that Steven hadn’t told them about Connie at all up until the day of her arrival, Dipper couldn’t put it past him.

“Yeah, my aunts,” Steven said, squeezing Connie’s hand in hopes that she would follow his cues. “You’ve met my aunts before.”

Connie’s eyes widened slightly, connecting the pieces together for herself. “Oh, yes! Sorry, I thought you were talking about the… insects!”

“Insects?” Ford asked, noticing Connie’s hesitation.

“Yep! Steven has a very elaborate ant farm back home,” Connie nodded. “They’re also a part of his aunts’ research.”

Steven forced a fake smile and nodded. Maybe he should have briefed Connie about what information he had given the Pines’ about his life _before_ she arrived. He never thinks these things through.

“I see,” Ford raised his eyebrow. “Sorry for the confusion, there’s still a lot about Steven’s life that we’re still getting used to.”

“That’s okay! I was the same way at first,” Connie stated, looking over at Steven.

Though she had a grin on her face, she quickly squeezed Steven’s hand. His stomach fell as he realized he would have a lot of explaining to do once the Pines’ were out of sight.

“So, Lion’s… friendly, right?” Dipper asked, already two inches away from Lion’s mouth.

Lion yawned, then flopped down on his belly.

“Yeah, he’s pretty harmless,” Steven smiled. “You can go ahead and pet him if you want.”

“Oh, Grunkle Stan, can I pet him?” Mabel asked, Waddles swinging in her arms.

“Sure, kiddo. Just make sure you and your brother don’t get eaten. If I have to explain to your parents why you got mauled by a lion, I don't think they'll take it very well,” Stan smiled at his niece.

Halfway to Connie’s pet, Mabel stopped and realized that even if Lion was friendly to humans, he might like Waddles more as a snack than as a playmate.

“Uh, Connie, do you think Lion will try to eat Waddles?”

“Nah, he mostly just eats small lizards he finds on the beach or some steaks I feed him,” Connie explained. “Also, Lion Lickers. He’s not too fond of hunting for his own food.”

“No, let him eat the pig!” Stan called from the porch. “It’ll be fun!”

Ford gave a disapproving look and sighed.

Ignoring Stan’s words, Mabel walked up to Lion with Waddles in her arms. She set her pig down next to Lion as she began to pet his mane.

“It’s so soft!” she gasped. “Like unicorn hair.”

Connie laughed, not understanding that Mabel was being literal. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

At the mention of unicorns, Steven realized that he had probably kept a lot more from Connie than he had meant to. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to tell Connie about the gnomes and the unicorns and of course the Gremloblin, it was just that… to him, all of the things that were considered ordinary to Connie were more exciting to him. Being able to learn how to use a cash register, getting yelled at by irate customers, and restocking junky, overpriced items in the gift shop were all aspects of life that he was still amazed by. The mundanities of life--how simple yet beautiful everything was. He understood now that this was what his mom had been talking about in the tape she left for him.

_I can’t wait for you to join them._

He took a deep breath. It was difficult to think about his mom even in a positive way, but today it felt like it was something he could do. He tried to remember what he first felt when he watched that tape in the back of the Big Donut with Sadie. His mom had wanted him. His mom had loved him. His mom was excited to see who he would grow up to be. Would she be proud of him?

_You’re going to be something extraordinary. You’re going to be a human being._

Here he was, being extraordinary. And he didn’t even have to save the universe to do it. He was just existing. Whether or not his mom was proud of him, he was proud of himself.

Closing his eyes, Steven felt satisfied with his answer.

“Steven?”

Dipper’s voice called out to Steven. He guessed that he must have zoned out.

“Sorry, what’s up?”

“I was just asking if I could take a hair sample from Lion,” Dipper asked.

Steven felt… almost intrigued. Would anything weird happen if Dipper cut off some of Lion’s hair? He tried to remember if the gems had ever gotten haircuts in the past. What happened to their hair then? Was Lion’s hair anything like gem hair? Did Lars ever get haircuts anymore? Wait, no, his hair hadn’t really grown since--

“Lion’s pretty exhausted,” Connie answered for him. “It’s best to let him rest for right now. Maybe before I leave you can get a hair sample.”

Dipper looked a little bit disappointed but continued to pet Lion. “I wonder why he’s pink.”

“Maybe it’s a genetic defect,” Ford hypothesized, moving toward the animal. “Perhaps something similar to albinism?”

As Dipper and Ford continued to exchange theories and questions about Lion’s coloration and behavior, Wendy walked up to Connie.

“Connie, can you show me how to sword fight? You’re already like, the coolest person I know.”

Connie laughed. “Thanks, but I’m not sure if I’m really qualified. I mean, I learned everything I know from Steven’s aunt, and even I’m not up to her level.”

“Steven, your aunt knows how to sword fight too?” Wendy looked at him in amazement. “Dude, what do your aunts even _do?”_

Steven laughed nervously. “That’s… kind of a long story.”

As the midafternoon sun sank lower in the sky, the long line of questioning from Dipper and Ford had worn both Connie and Steven out. Connie had taken Steven’s lead in answering questions about his family, about his road trip, about herself and why she chose to take up sword fighting. It was so strange for her to be dishonest with people who seemed to be just as interested in Steven’s life as she was when she first met him. She understood lying to people who would never be able to understand Steven’s world—like her parents—but the Pines’ all seemed so… accepting?

Ford clearly had an affinity for the supernatural. He even proudly displayed his polydactyl hands to Connie, to her amazement. He talked of monsters and paranormal happenings that couldn’t be real; Connie assumed that he frequented the same discussion boards as Ronaldo. She had to admit, however, that he seemed far more accomplished than Ronaldo. It didn’t entirely verify his stories, but they were interesting to listen to nonetheless.

Stanley had stayed on the porch for most of the afternoon, listening to Steven and Connie explain all they could about Lion and each other. However, the only time he came off the porch was to make sure Waddles wasn’t getting too close to Lion. Connie remembered smiling, noticing that despite his gruff appearance, Stan seemed to have some sort of a heart in there.

Wendy had been the most impressed with Connie. As Connie showed her a few sword techniques, Wendy had kept pressing her to show her how to use a sword.

“Man, listen, I will literally do anything to learn from you.”

Connie had laughed. “Oh, yeah? What do you have to offer?”

“I can teach you how to throw axes.”

Connie told Wendy that she would consider her offer.

Mabel had been, by far, the sweetest Pines’ family member. She took silly selfies with Lion, then took pictures of Waddles and Lion together calling them, “Pink Pals.” Connie giggled watching Lion roll over for belly rubs only for Mabel to fall face-first on his stomach. She hadn’t been one to ask many questions, but she definitely seemed to be the one having the most fun.

Lastly, there was Dipper. Connie felt that there was some tension between her and him for whatever reason, but she didn’t understand it. She guessed it was the fact that she was able to teleport on a pink lion and had learned how to sword fight, which he had asked about repeatedly. She must have been especially suspicious.

Throughout all of the questioning from Dipper and Ford, Connie didn’t understand why Steven didn’t just tell them about the gems. Why did he choose to keep a part of his identity hidden? Was there something about the Pines’ he wasn’t telling her?

It was around six o’ clock when she realized that she had to start heading back home soon.

“Well, it’s been great meeting you guys!” she said. “I’m so glad you decided to take Steven in. Hopefully, I can come visit sometime soon!”

“Yeah, then I can teach you how to throw axes in the woods!” Wendy exclaimed.

“And I can introduce you to Candy and Grenda!” Mabel beamed, blushing still.

Connie grinned. “That sounds like fun! I’ll try to visit soon.”

She turned to Steven and squeezed his hand. “Can you give me a tour of the woods before I leave? You know how much I’ve always wanted to tour the woodlands of the Pacific Northwest!”

Steven stared at her blankly before catching on. _Connie wanted to speak privately._

“Of course!”

“Can we go with?” Mabel asked.

“I think they want to be alone, pumpkin,” Stan said.

Steven blushed and gave a small wave. “We’ll be back soon!”

They headed off into the forest together.

“Well, that was weird,” Stan said in the silence that followed. “Who knew that Steven’s girlfriend was as abnormal as he is?”

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel said. “Are they really any weirder than what we’ve seen in the past year?”

“I think that’s setting a pretty low bar.”

“Stan’s right,” Ford said. “All this has done is fuel my curiosity about Steven. What exactly _is_ he? And how did he and Connie meet? All they said was that they met on the beach, which is fairly vague all things considered. In fact, all of their answers were vague. Everything from his aunts to whatever kind of research they actually do. I’ve studied anomalies my whole life and the only thing I’ve heard come out of Beach City is the founder, but even then, that’s all a legend.”

“What about the founder?” Dipper asked, thinking of Nathaniel Northwest and the fraud surrounding the Northwest family.

“Well, there are accounts stating that the founder of Beach City, William Dewey, was brought to shore by a giant woman of sorts. Of course, this could simply have been a wave or a whale—really anything. It’s been written off as a legend told by William Dewey to make his journey to Beach City sound more eventful. In truth, Dewey was a terrible navigator and captain. It seems like he would have done anything to improve his reputation.”

Dipper thought for a moment, then asked, “Grunkle Ford, do you think that a giant woman could be related to those things you saw in the ocean?”

“What, the plants that looked like Steven?”

“What… what if Steven’s aunts are also able to make the same kind of plants?” Dipper suggested. “What if... they were the ones that helped the founder reach Beach City? That might explain why he’s so vague about their research!”

“That would suggest that Steven’s aunts are hundreds of years old,” Ford said. “Steven seems fairly… human, I suppose. At the very least, he doesn’t seem immortal, or related to anyone who is.”

Dipper thought back to the past week. Was there really anything that would suggest that Steven would be immortal?

No, that would be impossible. Dipper was just about tell Ford to forget about his suggestion when he thought back to the Gremloblin encounter.

After leaving the woods, Steven had tripped over a tree root and fell pretty hard onto the forest trail. After dusting himself off, Dipper noticed that Steven had a bruise on his elbow. He had offered to grab him some bandages from the Shack, but Steven insisted that it was fine.

After dinner that night, once he and Steven were clearing off the table, he noticed that the bruise was gone.

"Hey, what happened to your elbow?" Dipper asked.

"What do you mean?"

"There was a bruise on your elbow earlier."

Steven had hesitated. "Oh, I actually cleaned it up and it turned out to just be dirt."

At the time, Dipper had just dismissed it. After all, it had been a long day. He was probably just seeing things. But now that he was thinking back on it... that fall _must_ have left a mark. But… that would mean….

“Steven had a bruise earlier this week, but it’s gone now,” Dipper started.

“Uh, duh,” Mabel piped up. “That’s how bruises work, stupid.”

“Your sister’s right, Dipstick,” Stan laughed. “And so what if he had a bruise? Things bruise me all the time.”

Dipper groaned. “No, what I mean is that he had a bruise and after dinner that night, it was gone.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t just dirt?” Mabel asked.

“He fell over a tree root!” Dipper threw up his hands. “There had to have been something!”

“If Steven really is immortal…” Ford rested his hand under the chin. “Do you think that he would have certain healing abilities that would help him maintain his immortality? Such as healing his bruise? Stan, what we saw on the boat… the fish reappearing….”

“Whoa, whoa,” Stan shook his head. “You’re not actually serious about this, are you?”

Ford stayed silent.

“Look, there’s no way that kid is immortal anymore than I am. Why would an immortal be on some sort of road trip anyway? Why would any immortal choose to spend their time working a _summer job at the Mystery Shack?”_

“It’s the only sort of lead I have,” Ford answered truthfully. “If Steven really can heal himself, or others, and if his aunts somehow can do the same....”

“Wait, Steven said his mom is dead,” Mabel piped up. “If his mom was able to die, wouldn’t that make Steven mortal?”

“I’m not sure,” Ford admitted. “For right now, though, I’m going to keep looking into this. Now, more than ever, keep an eye on him. If he gets so much as a paper cut, it’s crucial that we make sure that we’re checking to see if he’s able to heal himself.”

Dipper nodded, looking back into the woods. “Maybe we shouldn’t have let him go off alone with Connie.”

Mabel looked at her brother, then looked toward the forest. “Dipper, _please_ don’t go in there after them. Give them some privacy.”

Dipper began walking off the porch into the forest. “Look, I just want to see what they’re talking about. I’ll only be gone for a few minutes! They won’t even know I’m there.”

“Dipper, that is so messed up!” Mabel yelled. “You can’t just go spying on people! Besides, I thought you were finally getting over this weird obsession.”

“It’s not weird! Look, he’s hiding something from us. Something about his aunts, or this weird giant woman, or his lion—”

“He already answered everything that you wanted to know!”

“Did he? When we asked where he got Lion from, he said 'the desert.' Mabel, this is serious! We have to figure out what he can do, okay? I’ll be back soon.”

With that, Dipper started running into the woods on the search for Steven and Connie. Mabel called out his name, begging him to come back. Dipper could hear Ford trying to calm her down, saying that Dipper would only be gone for a few minutes. Stan was starting to yell at Ford about how he could be so calm about letting Dipper go on this “crazy mission” to prove that Steven was immortal. But Dipper didn’t care. He had to figure out what was going on with Steven at any cost. He can’t believe that he almost let himself get caught up with Steven, believing that he was actually telling the truth. He can’t believe that he was actually starting to _trust_ Steven, despite everything. His mind flashed back to the first words he had read in Journal 3 at the beginning of last summer: _TRUST NO ONE._

Dipper had been running into the woods for a few minutes before having to stop to pant. Ever since he had been able to take puberty blockers, his lungs hadn’t exactly been the same. Mabel kept telling him that that wasn’t a side effect of puberty blockers and that he was just bad at running, but he had decided that he wasn’t going to listen to Mabel about the subject.

As soon as he slowed down, he heard voices speaking softly near the right of him.

“… I… can’t… you….”

Dipper was certain it was Steven and Connie. He made his way cautiously into where they were talking, careful not to step on anything that might alert them of his presence. As he got closer, he was able to hear more of their conversation.

“…lie to them because I was ashamed. You don’t get it, Connie, I’ve never had the chance to feel normal. You were the only person in my life up until now that made me feel like it was okay if I never lived up to my mom.”

“I _do_ get it, Steven. I lied to my parents about you, about everything that made your life so much more interesting than mine. I lied about my glasses, I lied about Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, and I lied about learning how to sword fight. But I lied because I thought they would never understand me. But I was wrong! Steven, I’m sure if you just tell them—”

“Tell them what? Even if I was able to tell them everything, they wouldn’t be able to understand. Everything that I’ve been through, that _we’ve_ been through, how would I be able to put that into words? I still haven’t been able to come with terms with what happened when I became corrupted—”

 _Corrupted._ Dipper felt his mouth go dry. Whatever that was, it didn’t sound good.

“—and I still can’t begin to describe to you what was going on in my mind at that time. How am I able to tell them about my whole life when none of it makes sense to begin with, when I can't even understand parts of it?”

“Steven, it’s okay. Look, I know it will be awkward at first, but the sooner you tell them, the better you’ll feel.”

There was an exhale.

“I think I feel better just having them think I’m normal.”

 _Normal._ The way Steven said that implied what Dipper had suspected; he was an anomaly.

Dipper almost exclaimed in excitement. There _was_ something strange about Steven! He wasn’t just going crazy! He had to stop himself from jumping.

“Besides, I work at the _Mystery Shack._ What if they tried to turn me into a new attraction?”

Dipper didn’t know how to respond to that. After all this time of him worrying about how to protect his family against Steven… was Steven… _afraid_ of them?

“I came here to see if they were kind people, and I found out that they all seem really happy to be around you. Steven, I think they like you a lot. This place can be _really_ good for you, but you have to be honest with them. I know it’s hard, but… promise me you’ll at least try?”

There was a small silence.

“I… I don’t know, Connie.”

Connie sighed.

“It’s okay. I should really be going now, but I’ll try to come back later this month. This was really nice, all things considered. Just tell me what I need to say next time, okay?”

Steven chuckled.

“Okay.”

Dipper backed away, having heard enough. He had to run and tell Ford.

Steven was lying to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this one was... an absolute BEAST to write. Not only did my laptop keyboard just completely die on me, but by the end of me writing everything I had about nineteen full pages to this chapter. NINETEEN! But it was so much fun to just get lost and enjoy writing this chapter! First of all--I hope the time jump wasn't too weird! There's so much I want to write about Steven exploring Gravity Falls with Dipper and Mabel but also so much I want to do to advance the plot that in order for this to not get Too out of control, I wanted to just reference some encounters Steven would have had already rather than write them out. But don't worry--you will definitely be able to see some more Steven and Mabel bonding in the coming chapters! And of course she's given him a make-over. He was actually the one who asked her to!
> 
> I wanted to include something every chapter to give it a feel for the Gravity Falls weirdness, and so Ford's love glasses were perfect. (I hope some of you also caught the little reference to Rick and Morty--Ford and Rick totally were a Thing.) 
> 
> You can kind of see how things are starting to heat up now. I wanted to write more angst, damn it! I was initially toying with the idea of Dipper meeting Stevonnie in the woods (though he wouldn't know that it was actually both Steven and Connie--he would have just asked if they had seen Steven and Connie anywhere), but I thought it would be far more dramatic to have it end with Dipper rushing to tell Ford about Steven's lies. 
> 
> Also, Mabel is bi. Bi Mabel 2kforever.
> 
> I hope the wait was worth it! I wanted to write a little extra to thank you all for being so patient. Hopefully next chapter won't be as long and I'll be able to go back to my (sort of) schedule.
> 
> Until then, stay safe! (And for the love of God wear masks out in public.)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Grunkles Out at Pink Sea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26263138) by [Cutiebat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cutiebat/pseuds/Cutiebat)




End file.
